


Devil's Child

by AttackOnFabulous



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, BDSM, Bondage, Demon AU, Erwin/Armin - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Hanji/Molbit, Just porn really, M/M, Really shitty porn, Relationships are as followed between the other characters, S&M, Underage - Freeform, Ymir/Historia - Freeform, but they aren't the main plot, marco/jean - Freeform, possible ooc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-05 07:51:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1091437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AttackOnFabulous/pseuds/AttackOnFabulous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*HIATUS UNTIL COMPUTER IS FIXED*</p><p>The year is 3021 and Humanity where finally able to prove the existence of hellish behemoths and angelic saviours, certain individuals have even learnt the trait to summon and tame them at will. However, although the heavenly forces are instantly loyal and obedient to their summoners, demons and devils are not so willing, thus the Scouting Legion were formed in order to maintain control over the rabid beasts and prevent harm to mankind; that was, until, the day the Devil’s child came out to play.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Levi’s P.O.V

What do you except the future to look like? I’m willing to wager that your fantasy of it is packed with large technical buildings bent in unique shapes and lit up in headache-worthy LED light; the towns also equipped flying machinery that replaces the ancient 2000-eara 4 wheeled contraption. Greenery being artificial and holographic, it’s real and natural ancestors extinct specimens thanks to the toxic fumes pumped into the atmosphere long ago. Well, you’re not too wrong.

As time took its course, our landscape began to reshape. Oxygen levels reduced drastically and trees soon manipulated into a religious element that was supposedly blessed upon us by the three Godesses. Bullshit in my opinion, but that doesn’t make nature any less of a rarity. Only three natural trees remain in the world: Maria, Sina and Rose, all named after the apparent Goddesses that bestowed them upon us. We’re like caged birds in this world, all encased in a 250KM genetically man-made dome that prevents us from getting out and from toxic fumes along with blood thirsty beasts from getting in.

Oh yeah, did I mention we have the neighbours from Hell? Literally, demons and devils alike have become a common sighting and you would be considered insane if you were incapable of seeing them, people spouting how they are non-existent and a figure of everyone’s imagination, idiots. Thanks to alchemy and modern technology they were able to successfully summon a fully functional and very much alive demon in 2993. Since then, angles and fay have been able to emerge at the beckon call of man when needed. 

Unfortunately, demons and devils had the tendency to be the complete opposite of their more pure siblings. They are disobedient, blood-thirsty and just arseholes in general. Needless to say they are nothing but a pain and it is up to me along with the rest of the Scouting Legion to clean up all the shit they leave behind. Splendid. Not that I particularly mind cutting off their flow of blood or setting their insides alight in mystic flames, in fact I would consider it a favourite pastime of mine. What a sadistic bastard I am, eh? But I have my reasons.

Fickle and pointless details, regardless of my own twisted versions of pleasure, this doesn’t change that there are still those disgusting, horrifically unhygienic monsters that roam around freely. Sometimes, humans become too corrupted from the whispers spoken to them in their dreams. There are ranks in the hell domain, which range from rank 10 all the way to 1. The mere minuet shadows that can’t maintain a solid form are those that do the dirty work for the higher ranks. The same pathetic tactics apply to ranks between 10 and 8, they aren’t considered a danger at all, the most they do is pull up dark thoughts from your mind, mainly consisting of dark summoning to help weaken the barrier. Just pests that could be dealt with easily.

Ranks 8-5 where more irritable, but can still be dealt with. These are more commonly called the ‘messengers’, called such a name due to their lanky appearance, tiny and barley usable wings and capability to speak, though not very well. These pests are captured, researched on then released back into the demons domain carrying a ‘message’ visually that this is the state you will become if you dare cross the human race. I hold no remorse or sympathy for them; they all starve for blood, so showing the rest of the species the sheer torture we are willing to put them through if we are defied is nothing more than a normal occurrence.

However, it’s the ranks above 5 that usually make people screech and hide away their children. They are capable of shifting from their regular form into a look alike of a perfectly respectable human, the only way to be able to tell if they are human or not is to strike them on the base of their neck, a common weak point for demons and devils. It could be taken as a knee jerk test of sorts. Their bodies’ natural reflex is to sprout their tail to help them regain their balance otherwise they would just fall flat on their face.

It’s a dumb test, but the only one proven successful as of yet. The higher ranks have a tendency to cause the trouble, ranks 5 to 3 are mainly just the rabid, mindless drones, high on blood or some shit. They could be troublesome sometimes, but they are usually quickly wiped out. It was ranks 3-1 you need to worry about, really worry about. They have intelligence, and usually a severe amount of magical power to boot. They are the ones able to break through the barrier for a small period of time, usually coming in just to watch in delight as they burn our houses and devour our people. It makes me sick. 

The most powerful rank we have ever encountered on record would be a rank 3, and even though they were not the top rank, they managed to cause more than enough damage to make us fear ranks that are graded any higher. 

No one has ever encountered a rank 1 or 2 in a battle. No one has ever seen a rank 1 or 2. Some say they don’t exist, others believe that Satan is so powerful that he accommodates both ranks 1 and 2; others believe the Goddesses protected them from ranks 1 and 2. What do I believe? I can’t say I’ll believe in something so powerful and capable until I see it for myself, but that doesn’t mean I am not going to prepare myself for when the worst ever is to come. 

I’m Lance Corporal Levi, dubbed Humanities Strongest, called a hero among many, labelled as a rich bastard who leaches off of the government’s funds by others. I hold the kill count of 406 solo kills and 203 assisted, I have been raised to kill for survival for as long as I can remember. I hold great faith in my men as they do me, I promise to protect as many as I can, and most of all, I promise to eradicate the demon race before the time I rest in my grave and destroy the artificial walls that surrounds us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First fic ahhh sorry for any mistakes don't shoot I can offer you a really crap joke in return for my life.
> 
> EDIT: I'm fixing all of my crappy mistakes bare with me


	2. Five long years ago

Year 3016. Eren Yeager 10. Levi 21 – yet to be enrolled into the Scouting Legion.

Rocky terrains, lava waterfalls and uprooting boulders caked in scratch grooves and pointless swear words, the only place I know as home and the only place I have ever been able to roam freely. 

I walk up to the colossal black castle, gargoyles guarding the archway of every window while slimy moss grows atop their smooth stone surface. I let myself wander up the rickety steps towards an ancient oak door carved with beasts of old tales and new.

This home to the overlords of hell: Satan, his wife and only child. It is my home, my nest where I am pampered and pruned, and where I feel most comfortable being myself. I let out a soft grunt, forcing open the large oak doors and stepping inside. The guards either side of me took in my return and smile with a small polite bow of their heads, I respond with a smile of my own. 

Two large staircases spiral around the circumference of the room where they merge together at the peak to form a flat walkway towards a twin set of door to those I just walked through, those these are embedded with jewels and gold to value to the beholder the importance of that behind these doors; behind these doors lye walls of priceless fine art and three large marble thrones, manipulated by the sculptor to be comfortable upon sitting. 

I patter up the stairs quickly, towards the throne room and prepare myself before I hastily burst through. I am going to ask my father about traveling to the surface again today; I am certain that if I pester him enough he’ll eventually cave in and let me go.

Ah, but father said I am not permitted to leave the underworld, which quite frankly was pretty dumb. I am not weak in the least; I can fight and tear down any measly human, I am high in both rank and strength and I would willingly prove that. 

Despite this, my father forbids me from even thinking about going to the surface and it was unheard of that I go into the human domain. I hate this, I feel trapped and restricted, I am not pup anymore who is too weak and feeble to fend for themselves. 

I decide to inquire my father in the issue once again, pleading that he let me look, even if it is just for a brief moment. I once again rattle off my reasons for needing to go, but he just gives me the same disapproving shake of his head and worrying words of rejection.

“Please!” I am begging now, desperation fogging my golden eyes “I’ll even take Mikasa and Armin with me! That way you know for certain nothing bad will happen!” I bargain, hoping the additional company would help brighten his decision. 

Dad shifts his position on his throne, his claw clad fingers rubbing small rotations into his forehead as a sigh escapes his chapped lips. My mother at his side, her form looking like the personification of anxiety as her brows furrow and her hands clench into her crimson robes, the crown atop her head threatening to slip away from her brown locks as she shakes her head.

“Absolutely not! Eren, those humans are dangerous, they can summon angles at will and-! And they could kill you Eren! No, certainly not!” She gazes at my father for support, her tone now a choir of panic as she already knows her motherly rant is not enough to convince me. “Grisha, please! You know more than anyone how dangerous they are! How many people have we lost because of them? We can’t just let him flaunt around the surface!”

Dad leans back and removes his hand from his face, looking at his wife with reluctant sadness in his eyes, opening and closing his lips several times; unable to form the words he wants to say into a sentence. He gives her a weak smile and turns his attention back to me.

“Do you really want to go that badly?” He asks; I couldn’t help the excitement that curves into a smile on my face, my wings spreading open slightly in a show of glee. 

“Yes!” My smile grew, my fangs now prominent and showing the utter bliss that bubbles in my stomach. My tail begins to wag like an over-excitable dog, though in reality I probably look no less than one. 

My mother cries out at my father’s change of heart, eyes wide and mouth agape. She clenches her jaw shut and stands, heaving her dress into her hands and raising it up as she proceeds to walk off of her elevated thrown and towards me, anger alight in her eyes. 

She drops her dress to the ground as soon as she comes to halt in front of me and viciously takes grasp of both of my wrists; she begins to tug me over to the corner of the room where a fountain lay, the water gushing out a faint lilac, reflecting and absorbing the light from the various flamed torches scattering in symmetry around the pillars supporting the room.

“Do you know what this is, Eren?” She speaks calmly despite her rough actions of shoving me in front of the water.

I cringe at the rough treatment, knowing she isn’t doing it intending to hurt me but to prove a point. I gaze into the distilled purple water, watching as small beads of glowing white swim through and collide with one another. Each bead is a soul, lost and wondering, waiting to gather enough energy so it can rebirth later on.

“Yes…” I mumble, I have been lectured about this time and time again; I really am not looking forward to another one, especially not from my mother.

“Then you understand that if you’re killed up there it’ll take you over 100 years to reincarnate, even with your father and I’s assistance in your rebirth?” Her grip loosens around my wrists, red ovals imprinted in them from her clutch. I look away and sigh, I know she wasn’t doing it out of spite and I know she trusts me; it was just the damn violent humans she despises and doesn’t trust. 

I hate humans; I detest every single fibre and atom that makes them. They are murderous and simply refuse to even acknowledge our advances to try and negotiate a peace treaty. They keep the three holy trees in their possession, claiming that they were apparently bestowed upon them by three supposed Goddesses, which is false. Those three trees’ represent my father, mother and I, and with them in the human’s domain we can’t so much as touch them.

As long as those three trees aren’t cut down or its roots harmed, my parents and I will still continue to gain Matter and energy from the earth to enable us to use magic, and in the most powerful form at that. If they are ever to be harmed, we would wither and be stripped of any demonic qualities we detain, and be reduced to a mere human, weak and pathetic. 

That’s why we need to get into the domain, within each tree contains our hearts, as long as it beats, the tree will grow and bloom all year round, as long as the tree blooms, we’re strong and we exist. We simply cannot afford letting those disgusting territorial mammals get their hands on this information, without a leader to keep hell stable it’ll collapse in on itself, we’ll all be turned to dust and reincarnation would become faint legend of the past.

My mother grips my shoulders and looks me in the eyes, her own glossing up with tears that she refuses to let spill. 

“Eren…Please understand that I can’t have you die, not now, not ever. Your father and I understand your curiosity; you think we’re not just as curious to see the humans? Although they’re putrid and diabolical creatures, there is still the fascination about them. I know Eren; I really do, but please, stay here and stay safe.” She pulls me towards her chest and runs her hands through my hair, gently kissing the crown.

“I promise you Eren, as soon as we’ve won this war, we’ll go see it all together, Mikasa and Armin too.” She cranes me back and cups my face, smiling gently as she rubs her thumbs over my cheek bones “You’ve never seen your tree have you? You were still in my womb when your father and I planted it, you just wouldn’t keep still as soon as it sprouted its first root.”

I laugh along with her. That seems pretty likely on my part considering I can only last 5 minutes in my lessons without losing concentration or passing notes back and forth to Armin. “Was I really that bad?” I knew her response would confirm her truthful accusations, but it was comforting knowing she isn’t furious at me anymore.

She shakes her head, smile now broadening and full of loving warmth. She grasps my wrist once again, now more gentle, as she leads me back away from the fountain and towards the thrones; my father was smiling fondly at us both. 

“You would kick and twist my womb into knots, even as a pup you wanted to break free and just explore the world around you.” She withdrew her hold on my wrist and takes her natural seat next to my father. I take my own seat next to my mother turning my body language towards her to show interest in her stories about me as a pup. 

I open to mouth to ask more of her tales but was interjected by a scrawny rank 7 bursting his way through the doors that stood as a gateway into the room, his breath scratchy and eyes bulging wide. 

The guards littering around the room raise their spears towards the unexpected intruder, their fangs bearing and tails swishing to intimidate the measly demon, some even took up growling low with the undertone intent to kill if commanded. 

The rank 7 whimpers and tucked into himself, raising his clawed hands in a flurry of defeat and to show he had no intention of harm. 

My father abruptly stands, glaring down at the timid, shivering mess that so rudely barged in. He raises a hand at the guards, making them pause in their advances, my father practically hissing at the intruder.

“State what business you have here, if the reason be not good enough I shall have you killed.” I gulp at my father’s brutality, though I suppose if he wasn’t brutal how was he expected to reinforce order and law in a kingdom that indulged in sin? 

“Y-your highness! W-we’re under attack, sir! Those on the surface are being slaughtered as we speak; the humans! They have wondered outside to our territory and are advancing towards Titan pillar at an unthinkable speed!” He was breathless by the end, body shivering and unstable. 

The guards all ceased their held position and recoil back, disbelief on their faces as they absorb the information, linking the ends together and looking at my father for orders.

My father rubs his temple as he thinks, letting the situation sink in. “We’ll counter their advance”, he speaks clearly and broad, pausing to rethink his decision before finalising it “Send Hannes and his troops forwards, I’ll join them and reinforce boundaries around Titan pillar, yourselves and the others will evacuate away from Titan pillar and further towards the inner circles.” My father’s words are punctuated with each step away from his throne he takes until he stops in front of the old oak doors, like I had moments ago.

He turns towards my mother and I, and nods towards us. “Carla, take Eren and his friends, take them as close to the inner circles as you can and keep them safe.” without another word he pushed open the doors and walks through them until they drew closer to each other, slamming together with a loud clack and blocking out any attempts to watching my father’s retreating back that I could have gained. 

My mother takes hold of my wrist again, and drags me away from the throne room and towards the main entrance, panic in her movements and she rapidly runs down the steps and out of the gothic castle I grew so familiar with. Tears stain her flushed cheeks and she bites back hiccups as she looks out at the burning city before us, listening to the shrieks of pain coming from her people, begging to be unharmed and left alone. 

She slowly turns to me, her eyes dead and defeat; she pulls me in close to her, squeezing my rag doll state body before retracting me back and ruffling my already messy hair. 

“I need you to listen carefully, okay? The humans have broken through Titan pillar and they will most probably be on their way here to kill us.” A wail coming from a guard furthers this point more as they are slaughtered and combusted into dust a few yards away. “I need you to find Armin and Mikasa and their families, take them somewhere safe, I want you to hide away from the humans and kill them if it means you live. I can’t flee and watch my people die.” She kissed my forehead “Live on Eren, my precious child” 

I let out a bitter laugh, unable to fully understand the situation. “What do you mean? You’re coming with me.” 

She lets out a sob and clasps a hand over her mouth, more tears oozing down her cheeks; she pushes me away from her and takes a few steps back, I follow her.

“…Mother?” I extend an arm out to her, offering her my hand. “Come on, what are you doing?” I walk closer to her, curling my fingers around her wrist, now frowning up at her. “Come on! They’ll be here soon!” I try to her tug her along but she wouldn’t budge.

She smiles through her sorrow and wrenches out of my grip stepping away and soon running from me, spreading her leather, bony wings and taking off into the sky, disappearing into the thick black cloud above created by the humans fire obsession. 

I spread my wings out and begin to flap them furiously, only managing to hover 4 feet above the ground before they grew tired and burned, I keep flapping them regardless until they cramp and halt, dropping me down onto the ground. My wings are too small and fragile to carry my full weight yet and knowing this made it all the more bitter. 

I cough and sputter, weakly picking myself up and placing my weight on my legs. My vision began to blur as I stare at the ash cloud my mother disappeared into. Wetness pattering onto my cheeks and I reach up a hand dab at them, I pull it back to find a transparent slickness on them; tears. I gulp and clench my fist shut and grit my teeth hard, feeling my canines bite into my lip and the metallic burst of flavour coat my tongue, but I didn’t care.

I am boiling over with the uncontrollable bile of pure livid fury shaking my body. I begin to pant harshly in my fix of anger, dragging my eyes across the crimson city set alight. I stare at the homo-sapiens offspring’s of Adam and Eve as they ride through the streets on their 4 legged steads, some baring torches in their hands and others with a flag, the crest of two wings overlapping one another flapping proudly in the wind. It makes me sick, it makes me want to vomit and claw at my throat. This was all their fault!

The thumping of several hooves advancing towards me didn’t even strike half the amount of fear it should have. I was blind by so much fury that I let my instincts drown out my common sense, instead of running I turn to face them, my eyes cold and my pupil silted. 

Three humans jump off of their horses and draw out their blessed blades, three manoeuvring behind me; the two in front remain on their horses, blades also drawn. I rotated my head around to face them all, noting down how their body’s tensed and full with hatred, though more dull in comparison to my own raw fury. I smirk and let out a giggle, watching with pleasure as their expressions growing more intense and their hold on their swords waver. 

I couldn’t stop my giggling; it overtakes me like a compulsive urge until my voice becomes hoarse. I am not able to hear the command of attack until five of their blades impale me, and despite the blood spewing from my chest and mouth I didn’t flinch, I didn’t groan in pain nor did I even acknowledge it. I just carry on giggling like a maniac until it bubbles down into sniggers and stifled high pitched squeals. 

The humans retract their blades and my body crumbles to the floor. I lay there and curling into myself as a grin grew wide. I stare at the two people astride their four legged companions and watch with delight as their mouths gape open like fish; they are terrified, terrified of me. Their act of puncturing my body only disturbs the Matter and causes it to sink into a panic state, leaking out of my body in a black gas appearance covered in eyes as it madly moves in frenzy to heal me.

The Matter begins to collect the blood that pools underneath me, be it my own or others it morphs around me like a blanket as it starts to heal, the three scum behind me trying to penetrate it with their blade only to watch as it shatters into fragments in coming to contact with the black gas, their blades not being blessed a high enough level to harm.

The Matter is something that only responds to those it deems worthy enough to wield its power, if you are too weak it’ll reject you and leave you be, if it considers you strong it’ll aid you in healing yourself and boost your power, though at the price of leeching your blood as an energy source. I’d never had to call upon my Matter, but it seems more than please to comply at the moment.

The Matter absorbs all the blood and the eyes embedded within its ashen gas open wide as a mouth emerges, bearing sharp fangs and a large tongue that it swipes over its canines. The two sons of Adam and Eve on their stallions yell at the horrific sight and retreat back, but not before the Matter’s tongue takes a hold of them and pulls them away from their horses and into its awaiting mouth. It crunches through their screams and crackling of their bones, blood so carelessly spilling everywhere and over my face and clothes, though I didn’t care, I was rather enjoying watching them be devoured. 

The three behind me manoeuvred forwards and unsheathe two of their blessed blades this time; I was able to look at their unique features that made them human, two blond men and woman with her hair tied back with leather goggles covering her eyes. The woman leaps forwards and the Matter’s jaw tries to bite her but she evades its attack and sweeps behind it, striking underneath its mouth and through its tongue. Impossible, you would have to have a rank 4 enchantment on your blade to harm the Matter. It lets out a painful wail and thrashes its head from side to side, trying to dislodge the sword; I reach up to remove the offending blade for it, but instead only retract it back and hiss when two blades pierce through my arm. 

I glare at the human who dare harm me and growl, it was one of the blond men, though this one grew hair on his upper lip. He moves back before the Matter could from another mouth to snap at him. The other blond man springs forwards and it felt as if everything has frozen as my eyes lock with his; his eyes are an icy cold blue, threatening and demanding to be remembered and respected, I gulp as a fear runs through me that I was unable to find the reason for.

His blades swing back and arch along with them, I feel uncertainly run through me as I recall that stance, that movement and the eventual swing of those blades that would soon come. He is aiming for my neck, he has every intention of killing me and turning me to dust, and for some reason I found that unsettling as his eyes betray his actions. 

He didn’t look like he wanted to kill me; in fact they look curious and calculating. I was about to wait to see if he would until my mother’s last words echo in my head: ‘Live on Eren’. With that in mind reach I out and grasp the blades that were about to strike me, the rise of sudden determination seems to make the blondes eye light up, he was impressed. 

The two others glide to the back of me to strike, but the Matter has other thoughts and appears determine to protect me, a new mouth has now formed and is keeping the two behind me busy while I deal with the problematic human in front.

He smirks and pushes his blades against my hands slicing one of them clean off, I bit my tongue to stop me from calling out; I wouldn’t give this bastard the satisfaction of knowing he has hurt me. I still keep a firm grasp on the blade that hadn’t completely severed my hand off, trying to yank it from him but failing to do so, he has an iron grip on the blade and wasn’t willing to let it up. 

The Matter hisses when it is stabbed but proceeds on fighting, trying to at least bite and injure the two other humans to slow down their movements. The blonde before me unsheathes another blessed sword and cut through my other hand in a one fluid movement, this time I was unable to contain vocalising the pain and I gasp out as blood began to freely pour from my new wound. 

I fall to my knees as my body grows weak from supporting the Matter and the amount of blood I have lost, the Matter soon takes the hint that this fight is in vain and there isn’t any hope in aiding me much longer and soon withered away into nothing. 

I was panting heavily and my body shook with the aftershocks of adrenaline and fear. I couldn’t grant my mother’s words, I couldn’t save anyone’s life, not Mikasa’s, Armin’s and not even my own; I couldn’t give up though, I raise my head and unleash the most acidic glare I can muster as I direct it at the blue-eyed blond before me, I snarl at him and let my tail and wings extend out to make me appear bigger, more intimidating. I hold contact with those icy eyes, not once breaking away.

“I’ll annihilate your kind, every last fucking one.” I punctuate each word carefully with a growling undertone to show just how serious I am, the blonds eyes melt from an ice to a sky, like he took on my challenge with great anticipation. 

He crouches down and buries his hand into a pocket in his uniform, taking out whatever it was he aimed to get and settles it around my neck, it was loose but there was a subtle weight at the bottom; I look down to see a necklace of sorts, the charm at the bottom being part of their emblem, but only one wing, the blue one. 

Without any hands to remove it was a struggle to try and get off before the blue-eyed blond catches my wrists In his own large clammy hands, I shoot my gaze back up to join his.

“I’ll look forward to working with you” his voice was deep and authoritative and suddenly his hands are gone, and so is his pressured gaze. He gestures to the other two with one smooth hand motion and both instantly withhold their attacking stances and follow behind him as he left, no questions asks.

I watch them retreat for another moment before my eyelids grow heavy and dark splotches of black bleed into my vision. I sway and hear faint callings of my name in the distance before I am enveloped in complete darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Ahahahah I re-read It and finally edited it and ahahaha I made so many dumb mistakes I want to cry.
> 
> next time I will sit and edit or at least re-read it instead of just auto correcting everything and quickly dashing it of to submit. I apologies for my really annoying mistakes that probably made you all cringe as much as I did, highly possible that there are still a lot in there. Never again I promise bah.
> 
> Also wow okay I um. A lot of people seem to be liking this I am unable to verbally type out how happy this makes me and how grateful I am for this. I do not deserve all of this love for my shitty writing but wowie thank you so much!!! /)//////(\


	3. Safe

Year 3016 – Present day. Eren Yeager 15. Levi 26 – A Lance Corporal in the scouting legion.

Eren’s P.O.V

In the gloomy caverns of a refuge underpass, Armin, Mikasa and I hunch over an ancient map, the paper having aged into a musky brown from years of being attacked by the oxygen element. The corners are curled and the paper feels thin and fickle between my fingers so I try not to glide my fingers along its surface gently.

This is the only existing map of what the human’s domain looks like, as no one has ever been able to plot out an accurate visual image of the diameter, width and height without being slaughtered or held hostage. 

I coil my fingers together into my palm at the memory that bleeds into my mind. Five years ago, sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, self-proclaimed ‘heroes’, invaded the first of three pillars of hell, brutally slaughtering demons and young pups, cremating houses, even taking some hostage. 

My mother, Armin’s grandfather and Mikasa’s parents being part of the group they captured, and with the intent motive to get them back, we began to plot and lead, building together a small army with the combined strength of 250 average armies.

Since the humans raid we have taken control, I refuse to take the title of hell’s overlord and insist upon still remaining a prince, reminding the people that my father was missing and there has been no confirmation of his death, the same applies for my mother. However, I still stay true to my responsibilities and took over, spouting out orders and commands of voyages, traveling to a more reinforced haven.

Mikasa is in a similar state, her parents being grim reapers, good friends of my father. She has taken over the responsibility of reaping souls of the humans, but doesn’t hold the same amount of remorse her parents hold, she despises them as much as I but she doesn’t express this through her facial features or verbally. She is able to creep in through the human’s barrier but only for short periods of time as it strains her body otherwise.

She would undeniably be a rank 1 if her species are categorised with our own, but regardless she is still treated with grand respect and she strikes impending fear into those who crosses her path with wrong intentions. Baring a large black scythe, accessorised with bones of human while being covered in a long hooded cloak certainly made her an intimidating yet authoritative sight; her coal hair and twin coloured eyes only complimenting this.

As for Armin, he takes over his family name with pride and became the official heir. Armin’s family have never been ranked highly for their physical strength, they are more structured around their vast ability to retain and gather knowledge. Armin ranks as high 2 based on his unthinkable level of intelligence and ability of magic use, though Armin is in no way physically incapable, he just doesn’t fare well in comparison to others of his rank. 

I on the other hand, I have morphed all of my bitter hatred into a form of encouragement, pushing myself forwards to excel better in my lessons and training hard in my spare time to use and control magic, managing to situate myself the honourable rank of 1. I am determine to get all of our loved ones back, and thus why all three of us are huddled up over a withered map, small wooden figures of demon knights organised neatly in straight lines, positioned where we are currently. Armin reaches a hand over and plucks one up, moving into a different position.

“Marco and Sasha shall enter from here, while wearing the uniforms provided and their fake ID Holopods, they’ll present them to the guards located here” He glides his finger to one of the smaller rings that sit comfortably around the outside of the largest ring. I look over to his face, his eyebrows are scrunched up and mouth turned down slightly in concentration, I place my eyes back down on the map as he continues.

“There will be a lot of confusion about the verification and why the codes are outdated, this will buy us some time so Mikasa-” He grabs another wooden solider and moves it over to the large rectangle behind the grand first barrier “-will slip through the barrier and past the guards Marco and Sasha are keeping preoccupying and using as much power as she can muster, she’ll create a small break in the barrier which will last approximately 2 minutes before it auto heals, during which, Eren and the rest of us will crawl through and get inside. Once in we need to find a generator of some kind.”

I nod in understanding as he reaches over to take a tiny sip of the water he received for himself before setting it gently down to continue explaining his plan. From the sparkle in his eyes and smooth movements of one order or operation to the other, it was easy to identify he spent hours concocting up this plan of action. After he swallows he swipes his tongue over his lips and inhales deeply before continuing. 

“Once we’re all in we’ll have to scatter in search for the generators. Christa and Ymir will create mixed Matter wave that’ll confuse and distract the other guards positioned at the other three generators so Eren can easily reach them without any hassle. The others will scatter and be on guard.” Armin speaks his chosen words clearly, certainty weaves into each one. He turns to face me fully still dead serious. 

“The generators were crafted by angles, so only those with the purest of hellish blood can corrupt there flow, thus where you come in. If you mix your blood in with the generator it’ll cease up for a brief moment and the entire barrier will shatter, during that time the others occupying the guards will knock them out and take their Holopods and hand over the humans to our pick up squad where they will be held hostage and questioned for information.” He then grasps all of the wooden soldiers which he had positioned in the largest circle and pushes then forward and together next to the emblem that bares the two fragmented overlapping wings. I mentally cringe at the sight of it.

“We’ll meet up here outside the military base. We’ll be wearing their uniforms, so it would be best to stay as close around to those who wear the same skin as us as possible to dissolve suspicion.” He leans away from the map and puffs out a brood sigh, closing his eyes and rubbing at his brow. “That’s the plan anyway. We’ll have to be 10 minutes tops, 5 minutes would be ideal; the oxygen levels out there can only be withstood for 15 before we start regurgitating our organs.” 

He rolls his shoulders and reopens his eyes, rubbing his teeth over his lip in worry as he looks at me. 

“It’s one hell of a long shot, during the time you corrupt the generators and the barriers break there will be panic and confusion, the human military will certainly be out in a flash. We have to get 40 rank 6’s, 50 rank 8’s and 100 rank 9’s in there and hidden in the shadows before they’re noticed, not even counting us.” He smiles and laughs a little through his worry, he isn’t convinced this will work but appears to be going along with it anyway.

“Then it’ll be up to you Eren, if we make it that far that is” his tone is bitter and restless and the bags under his eyes highlight the amount of stress and unnerved anxiety he’s going through. 

Mikasa and I place our hands on each of his shoulders in sync, both of us trying to squeeze his anxiety away. He looks up at both of us, a thankful smile gracing his features at our small gesture of comfort. I made sure to look at him directly, giving him my complete attention as I try and display as much confidence and certainty in my expression as I can, it seems to work as his shoulders slump. 

“I promise you, it’ll work! We’ve been working for five years on this; there isn’t a single flaw we could counter that we aren’t able to quickly patch up. We have back up plans for our back up plans! It’ll work, that much I am certain of!” I didn’t notice I grabbed hold of both his shoulders and lightly shaking him until Mikasa clears her throat and tugs at my sleeve. 

“Eren, let go.” She utters quietly, the material of my clothing pinched between her fingers as she pulls to drag me away from Armin. 

I retract both my hands away from him and step back like I have come in contact with hot lead. I usually become a little too passionate when I am really determine to complete a task with the utmost success, which applies for pretty much most of my daily tasks, except cleaning. I hate cleaning. 

I laugh nervously, it coming out sharp and forced before it finally deflates into an embarrassing croak. It stays silent for a long moment, I cough into my hand to try and coax out some kind of reaction that they’re still with me and aren’t judging me too hard. 

Hearing the dull slam of palm again forehead from Mikasa’s direction, I knew I probably made one of the most awkward, animalistic noise either of them have ever tuned their ears to. Smooth as sandpaper.

“Well,” Armin starts, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear “When do we execute it?”

I am unable to stifle the blissful grin that cracks and pulls up my cheeks; feeling my heart speed up its pace and the rhythmic pulsating beat of my blood drowning out all louds around me as my ears begin to tingle. I can feel the Matter within me stir in restlessness at the thoughts of human massacre we are about to advance on. I tremble slightly from the anticipation.

“Tonight.”

____

We wait for the full moon to have risen to its highest peak of the night before making any movements, though the second it reaches that point I order for our break in plan to be put into motion. Everyone has shot off on command.

I wait for Marco and Sasha to change their human form to hide away their protruding horns, long nails, bony wing and unique tails; the wings fold over and merge away into nothing, their nails retract away to leave transparent-pale white nails and their tails are wrapped around their leg, hidden away by their trousers. The only problem with their appearance is their canine-like teeth and dilatable eyes of red or gold. 

Their fangs are retracted and appear less prominent; however their eyes require contacts, though in this poor lighting I doubt the humans are able to see their hand even in front of their own faces. I have read that their eyes are not able to shrink and resize themselves to as much of an advance level such as ours. That gives us one advantage at least.

Sasha and Marco finish slipping into the uniforms prepared for them, their outdated Holopods in hand and a nod to us they begin to walk forwards towards one of the four gates. We hide behind the protruding stalagmites with bated breath, hoping, praying that our cover isn’t blown immediately. 

As soon as the two reach the gates they scan their Holopods, their screens flashing red in what I assume is a signal of their codes being rejected or faulty, and just as Armin predicted, the two guards at one of the generators notice the company by the gate and leave their posts to go deal with their unexpected visit. Mikasa sees her chance and sprints forwards soon morphing into a shadow on the ground and slipping through the barrier, it’s blessed circumference dragging her back into her reaper form as soon as she crosses it. 

Wasting no time, she takes out her scythe and swipes it towards the barrier which leaves a gaping slit in, she moves her hand in and out a few times and watches her form not change, with a curt nod the rest of us charge forwards seeking to create as minimalistic noise as we can possibly manage. We come closer and closer to that opening, watching as it begins to repair itself thanks to its holy regeneration charms. 

Mikasa desperately tries to keep it propped open with her scythe but the barrier resists and continues with its reassembling. We’re almost there, so close, just a few more steps.  
I propel myself forwards with my wings to get there even faster and everyone follows suit, beating their wings in sync with their rapid heartbeats and stretching their arms out along with mine to grab hold of the splits edges and hoist ourselves through. I do just that and force my way in the not-near big enough gap and tumble through falling flat on my back with a groan.

Leaning up, I rub the base of my sore back and look around; Armin, Annie, Mikasa and Ymir. I begin to panic at the location of the rest of my comrades, not seeing them around anywhere until I look out of the barrier. There stands Reiner, Bertholt, Christa and Connie trying to scratch through the barrier to make a break that they can all slip through; there attempts don’t even cause a dent. 

“Eren, disable the generator! It’ll weaken the barrier enough for them to break through!”  
I don’t know who suggests the idea but I let the meaning of their words be my drive more so than who said them. Knowing our time is limited, I sprint towards where the first of four generators humming away and easily break the weak anti-satanic charm that vainly protects it.

I lift my hand to my mouth and dig my fangs into the flesh, a burst of iron liquid coats my tongue before the pain surfaces around the puncture. I grit my teeth and suppress a yelp of agony that tries to wheedle its way out my throat, it instead coming out as a muffled grunt. 

Retracting my prominent canines away, I hold out my hand and let the black liquid pour away freely from the wound and across my fingertips where it weighs out in clumps until too much and then drips. I aim it over the generator and my eyes follow the coal-coloured blood as it flows down. 

The generator whirs and hums frantically, shaking violently at the corruption as smoke rapidly escapes out through gaps and vents in the machinery. I step away. Sparks of white and light blue spout out and over the mechanical shell until the hum dulls down into a tone of quiet nothing and the forceful trembling stops. 

I smile at my miniature victory, turning back to my companions the other side and nodding in delight, confirmation that the barrier is weaker now, that they can smash through with enough force. But I am only met with faces of fear and dread as they begin to back away. I frown at their odd behaviour and mouth a ‘what’ towards them; Christa raises a hand and points over my shoulder, I turn and spot a small figure, the emblem of two over lapping wings stitched into the cloak that covers their form, flapping effortlessly in the wind. Their swords are drawn and their face and body a mere silhouette against the sharp and intimidating gleam of the blades.

That’s not all that’s intimidating though, I feel waves and waves of sheer power radiate from the person, their use of magic and combat skills not something even the strong would challenge. 

I gasp and back away from the barrier, stumbling to locate everyone who managed to get through the same side I was currently in. I see their already retreating backs as they slink into the shadows, blending in enough to not be able to differentiate between the two. I hurry to follow suit, but I halt as a wire with a grapple hook boning the end snaps out in front of me, hauling the small framed human in towards me too quickly for me to comprehend. 

Even at a close distance and with my more adapted eye sight, I am unable to make out any features belonging the offspring of Adam and Eve. Their hood hangs over their face and casts an impenetrable shadow over their features, and without being able to see the curves and original alternations in the facial structure, it made the anonymity of the character that much more terrifying.

They take long and precise strides towards me, their blades are held backwards, not facing towards me. I am confused at their chosen method to hold such a weapon, but my instincts told me to only fear the habit more, they have obviously developed a preferred style. My Matter cries out for me to get away, it’s screaming out for me to just forget everyone and just run, get away, far away, don’t even consider taking on this human. _'Get out of there Eren, get out!'_

I back away rapidly as they approach me, sense now slowly ebbing back to me. I spread my wings out far and crouch down low on the ground swiftly, keeping my tail hidden and close to my body, leaning my weight onto my back legs, I use the momentum to drive forwards, pumping my wings to add additional speed, I try and drive clear of the hooded figure. 

I keep my eyes trained on them, oddly enough they don’t move much, only their head were I assume they are watching me rotate around them. I would have thought they would strike me down, or at least attempt to, but their hold on the blade handles don’t even shift. Not pondering on it any longer in risk of them soon changing their mind, I dart off in the direction my companions fled off too, also using the Matter’s power to shift my form into a ashen shadow, invisible against the night. 

 

I eventually find the others, all inside an old barn; they huddle together for warmth and I didn’t blame them, it was horribly cold here. I approach them and mould back into my original form, walking the last few steps towards them, they all soon regard me and jump up, relief on their faces. 

Armin is the first to wrap his arms around me, followed by Mikasa. The two utter how worried they are and how stupid I am for stopping to observe, others are not so welcoming of my return. Ymir’s dilated eyes are full with pure rage and sorrow, I can only brace myself for the scolding I am about to receive, Annie just passively remains seated and quite. 

Hoisting herself up, she hisses and spits in my direction, her tail aggressively swiping back and forth in a challenge of dominance and her wings out in a display. She grabs at the neck of my shirt and yanks it upwards and towards her face as a growl rumbles out through her chest. Armin is startled away from aggressiveness and steps aside.

“You had better figure out a way to get Christa back by my side by the time the sun rises or so help me I’ll shove your tail so far up your rectum you’ll have to shit from your mouth” She is livid and I can feel the anger tremble through her body, her Matter can be seen pulsating through her veins in her blind rage. I know Christa and Ymir are close, possibly even feelings of strong affection, and I also know that separating the two was a death sentence and something I really don’t want to challenge.

I raise my hands in the air and try to gently nudge out of her hold. “I will alright? I’ll figure everything out! Just, time. I need time.” My pleading works as she loosens her grip and slacks her muscles down almost completely, tension still notable though. 

“Time. Alright, I can give that. I’ll give you one month, starting tomorrow.” She let go of my shirt completely, the fabric still scrunched up from her vice grip, she quizzes my eyes before continuing. “I mean it Jeager, one month otherwise the deal’s off and our alliance dissolved” She turns her back to me and ventures to go sit back by Annie, her eyes still clouded with worry and anger; she looks back at me again and hisses a last ‘I mean it’ before ignoring my presents completely again, curling her knee’s towards her chest and arching her arms around them. 

I bite and gnaw at my lip as I think, one month. One month isn’t long at all. In one month I would have needed to safely get everyone into the military, slowly worked our way up the ranks so we can get closer to superiors whilst gathering information about the barriers, the type of blades humans use in addition to finding the pin point location of the three trees. It’s a lot, and I’m not sure I can fit it all into one month, not while trying to make sure everyone is safe anyway.

If I don’t finish in time, Ymir will break her contract with me and cause a chain reaction for the others to break theirs as well. I made a deal, contract if you will, with each of my special operation soldiers, each promising them something that I could give in return for their service and possible life in this operation. Ymir’s consisted of the title of Duke, and with that title meant she wasn’t inclined to follow a large some of my rules and regulations, also meaning she could easily become a potential enemy and send information to the humans without me being about to barely touch her at all, however, she seems extraordinarily loyal to Christa, which may work to my advantage. 

But there is still pressure, still so many things that can go wrong, we have nearly no chance of survival, yet these people are willing to go through that risk to bring an end to the human race. They want to stay by my side, and that fills me with warmth I cannot describe or give name to, is it loyalty? Companionship? …Friendship? Whatever it is the sensation sparks inspiration inside of me and only words of motivation fill my head, no longer what might happen, but what we will avoid happening. I straighten my back and let my determination concoct up words for me.

“It’s late now right? And because of our breakage, there will be humans enrolled in the military dashing around, correct?” I look mainly towards Armin to answer my question; he stills for a moment and hesitantly nods his head, unsure of where I am going with my train of thought. 

“So, if we’re careful, we can capture a few of them and kill them, strip them of their clothing and wear it ourselves. We can easily change our appearance to look like them, the only problem will be our eyes, but in this darkness I doubt they’ll be able to even notice, we can get into the military tonight.” 

“And what would you suggest we do with the bodies? The humans will realise they’re missing and we can’t exactly dump them in a pile of hay.” Annie’s voice is monotone and unconvinced; she doesn’t even take her eyes away from the small cracks that weave together in intricate patterns on the floor.

I think for a moment before responding. “My Matter will take care of that, it won’t leave a drop of blood. As for their missing state….” I rattle through my brain in attempts on how we can hide that flaw and progress on with our plan. 

“Attach their holopods to minor demons.” Armin pipes up and finishes for me. “If we can clip on all of their holopods, then it’ll look like they’re still moving and alive, the more recent holopods give location as well as easier communication. We could buy ourselves some time by strapping them to minors while the humans follow them on pretty much a wild goose chase.” 

Everyone’s attention is on Armin now, I smile and nod enthusiastically at his input into my idea. Annie and Ymir, however, seem reluctant to go through with it, their eyes showing their displeasure for having to put their lives at risk once again. 

Mikasa turns to them and glares at the two, her hood shadowing her face. “You seem to be forgetting that I’m a grim reaper, I can slice down sons and daughters of Adam and Eve like they’re mere blades of grass. Eren’s Matter is the strongest type there can be and Armin’s advance knowledge will be able to quickly create an escape plan if need be.” She turns away and faces me her eyes mimicking the determination that I was sure were shining in my own. “We’re the elite demon, devils and hellish behemoths, are we not?” 

I’m not sure if she’s directing the question at me or still addressing Annie and Ymir, but I nod sternly anyway. Mikasa nods back at me and directs her attention back to the two. “Then it’s settled, whether you both decide to accompany us or not are up to you, but you’re all for yourselves if you wish not to follow.” She advances towards the barn door, hunching her hood further over her hair and fusing her scythe together between her fingertips, once formed she leans it over her shoulder and waits by the door.

Armin gulps and gives the two girls a look of guilt, he opens his mouth and licks his lips, but his will to speak is short lived as he closes his mouth accompanied by a sigh through his nose. He gestures to the door with his head muttering a ‘let’s go’ and stands by Mikasa.

I can’t help but look back at Ymir and Annie in disbelief, were they really not coming with us? By their positions on the floor they didn’t show any indication that they would be doing such an act. My face drops for a second before I tighten it up again with determination, this was my primary goal for now, and if Ymir and Annie aren’t going to be a part of that, then I wouldn’t let that weigh me down. Although it’s safety in numbers, it’ll give me a little bit more ease to know that we aren’t all in one place and easy to capture; just a little.

I turn to Armin and Mikasa, smiling at the two. “Ready?” I speak while trying to hide back as much as my fear as possible. We are in human territory now, anything can go wrong and the awareness of that just doesn’t settle well in my stomach at all. 

I inhale and stretch my arms out, bursting the doors open on my exhale and expected to be greeted with the brick huts the humans live in and the starry sky that shrouds the human habitat in darkness. 

Only that isn’t what greets with at all, we are greeted with blades raised towards us along with several gun barrels and even holy charms of their precious trees are raised against us. 

We all go by instinct and attack immediately before they can move, sweeping underneath their legs and attack them from the back, it was sly and not something usually considered as heroic, but this isn’t about glory or honour, it is about getting out alive for our freedom. No matter the cost, no matter how large or powerful the foe, nothing will stop me from getting to my mother, my tree, my ultimate goal for freedom and a land be ridden of the Adam and Eve spawn scum. 

I dodge the bullets as best I can, a few shooting me in my arms and legs, but the matter makes quick work of healing them over, the bullet being rejected out of my body and steam covering the wound as it heals. 

I hunch down low and sweep my legs at the back of their own, their legs buckling under them causing them to drop their hold on their weaponry and fall down to the ground. I quickly take advantage of it and don’t hesitate to bite into my thumb, my blood dribbling out and summoning my Matter. It bends my blood into a small knife and patches up my harsh bite before dissipating into nothingness. 

I slice and cut my way through flesh and necks, through their chests and hearts and to server their heads, leaving only mess of thick crimson scattered on the brickwork below us along with their lifeless corpses, but my Matter makes quick word of the mess, lapping it up and hungrily swallowing mouthfuls of the blood, I divert my attention away to avoid the urge to throw up. Once it fades away I find not even a speck of blood left, good. All that’s left are the matted remains of what once were alive homosapiens. 

I still for a minute to pant and capture my lost breath, steadying myself and regaining my balance after whipping my body around only a short while ago. Mikasa and Armin share looks of concern for my health; I shake my head as my breath begins to even only slightly, trying to indicate too them that I need a little longer.

This is odd though, something feels highly off about the air, the set around me. How did they know our location? Why didn’t they shoot us on sight? Why didn’t they have the essence of a human being and why did I feel like we are being…Watched?

I snap my eyes around the area trying to locate the source before a pang of pain ripples through my head; I clutch at it hard and begin to wobble in place in poor efforts to regain my balance. I fall to the ground and curl into myself, using my wings as a shield to try and block out whatever it was piercing my brain in two.

“Eren!” 

Is that Mikasa or Armin?

“Eren! Get up Eren!”

Maybe both? It’s too hard to tell the difference when your head it being ripped apart and your thoughts clumping together in one loud choir of noise and screaming. Screaming?

_‘GET AWAY EREN, GET AWAY!’_

Screaming, Mikasa and Armin are screaming at me. Why are they screaming? Why are they so worried? I just need to rest, just for a little bit. 

_‘THEY’LL GET YOU EREN! THE MAN! THE MAN WITH THE ICE EYES!’_

Ice eyes? Man? What are they bleating about? I am so confused, so scattered and the craving for rest is becoming unbearable. We haven’t even left the barn entrance yet, I could easily go back and sleep for a while, and it is late after all.

_‘DON’T REST EREN, RUN! GET AWAY, GET AWAY!’_

Barn…No I left the barn for a reason? Why was that? Why was I in a barn? Why did I want to leave? I can’t remember, so it shouldn’t matter, right? 

I can feel my tense muscles begin to loosen and lax, letting the weight of them droop down towards the floor and letting gravity pull the rest of me down. I don’t care, I feel calm, at peace. Alone.  
Alone? No I wasn’t alone, I have mother and father here with me, along with all the guards that swore their souls to protect us. That’s right; I’m home, in my bed, safe. 

_‘LIVE!’_

I inhale sharply at the simple word and the heavy weights of my limbs suddenly become lighter, I can control and move them around again freely, my vision begins to clear and the pain in my head ebbs away into an irritating headache. What happened? What was that sensation? 

When the fog of my vision finally clears I see only chaos. 

Armin, Mikasa, Annie and Ymir are all being held down, blank expressions on their faces as if they’ve had their emotions leeched from their very being. They are limp as several humans bound and chain them down, tying their legs, arms, wings and tail and preventing them from mobility. I don’t understand, why aren’t they resisting? 

I growl and hunch up on instinct; if they aren’t going to save themselves then I’ll make it my responsibility to do it myself. I spring my body forwards and towards them, only to find I couldn’t. I couldn’t move, I try again only to receive the same results. I can’t move. I struggle and shift only to find restrains around me; my wings are bound, my tail chained heavily to my legs and my wings caked in chain netting that’s unbelievably heavy and prevents me from being able to move them. I growl and spit, hissing while trying to tug the offending chains off of me. 

“Hey! He’s still active! Get over here!” A human’s sickening tongue forms the words, which I assume are directed towards me, I roll and try to attack, try to get away, trying to do something!

A human dares to touch me, pinning me down hard against the brick flooring, I arch to try and bite at him but he avoids. More and more of his pathetic brethren grab me, forcing me into awkward and uncomfortable positions as they apply more chains, more weights and what I guess are spell tags to reduce my power. They eventually move away from me when the advancing clunk of heavy footsteps becomes apparent, leaving me a little lighter. 

I strain to try and arch up, but can’t with the weights encircling me, all I can see are their damn boots that stop short in front of me, poking lightly at my face as my growling becomes louder. I wasn’t in the mood to share words and I wouldn’t be surprised if all that came out are animalistic barks or manic death threats. 

“Is this it? This is the presents you were afraid of?” The owner of the boots speak and they continue to prod at the rest of my body, clearly either too dumb to realise my growls of anger or they simply didn’t care, either way I wasn’t going to take to kindly to their constant poking. 

“That’s the one from five years ago, I’m certain of it. He holds a lot of inner strength that I’m sure not even he knows he holds.” Another voice now, much deeper and more authoritative, it rang bells of nostalgia and made me dull down my growling to listen in more. If he was talking about the event of our first pillar being destroyed then I am acute to hearing about it, I might be able to pick up information on it. 

“He’s stopped growling. He clearly shows intelligence, but I’m unconvinced about his potential.” The owner of the prodding boots replies while he rests a foot on my back, applying slight pressure a little at a time before it becomes painful and I snap at him, a bite with the intention to miss but with the goal of trying to get his filthy feet off of me. 

To my surprise though he doesn’t move and only chuckles, mockingly, and it triggers a flame in me to growl again. 

“How very lively.” It’s all he utters through his dry laugh and it makes me uncomfortable, he isn’t scared of me and doesn’t seem to care about any of the Matter’s aura I am emitting to try and intimidate. He only releases his boot and begins to stroll away, not before a sharp snap of his fingers which sparks another agonising headache to pound through me until I’m limp, boneless and heavy as my eyes blur again. That doesn’t matter though, right? I don’t even know why I’m here…

Alone, but I’m not alone am I? No….I’m home…Safe, and in my bed? Yes, I’m safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologies for extreme lateness, I had a few issues that needed to be taken care off.  
> I shall be updating weekly now though.
> 
> Thank you for all of your kind words, I really appreciate it! ;;  
> Sorry for all of my mistakes within the chapter, they shall be corrected soon.


	4. Dog, meet your new master

Levi’s POV

Erwin hasn’t called or updated me on anything since late last night, which is off and it leaves me restless, and from my persistent curiosity I find out nothing has been said to Hanji or Mike either. I’m uneasy and I feel the need to be cautious with my actions and words around Erwin.

Hanji, Mike and myself are usually the first people to know what plan the cogs in Erwin’s brain have conjured up, and he usually confirms it based on Hanji’s impeccable foreseeing, Mike’s instinct and my skill beforehand, but he seems to have a mental storage of information that enables him not to discuss whatever it is he’s thinking with us. I should question him about it, but I feel that doing so will only sew his lips together even tighter if he caught on to my suspicions about him. What a shit-clog.

The rythmatic tap of knuckles against the other side of my metal door, followed by a muffled ‘Permission to enter, Corporal’. I call back a monotonous ‘enter’ and a new recruit steps inside, back stiff and head held high as he doesn’t make direct contact with me and instead focuses on the bridge of my nose. He raises a hand and ruthlessly pounds a curled first over his heart, a salute. The salute I have become oh so familiar and burdened with.

“Lance Corporal Levi, sir! Commander Erwin requests your presents in the castle dungeons, sir!” His words are slurred in his nervous rambling only ebbs on the growing headache of mine. How very irritating. This entire legion is irritating, everyone is just an obedient dog that’ll sit and kneel nicely for their superiors while they feed off the hope that we’ll praise them, and on the rare occasion that any of us do, they’ll then be attached to our hip until we snap at them to stay the hell back.

I hate how clingy they all are, how they lack two brain cells to rub together due to their ‘training’ breaking them in to take orders without question, especially me, everyone does what I say without question for fear of me either kicking their sorry ass or their pathetic and slimy need to please me, which I assure you none of them do. I’m never satisfied with anyone, not fully; there is always something about each person that just doesn’t settle well with me. 

That doesn’t mean to say I detest everything about everyone, very close, but not everything. I like some people’s quirks, and it’s my curiosity to learn more about such a quirk that’ll lead me to not minding their company or the odd chat. Though I have many quirks, no one has ventured far enough to uncover more than two at the most, my addiction to cleanliness and hygiene being one and the other being the need to be on top constantly, I cannot be detained in accepting second, always first and always on top. Yet I hate those who submit to me so easily. I’d rather those who bite back a little before I can crush them completely to show them just exactly who is calling the shots.

I am an odd specimen; I dislike regarding myself a human, as that term has now become something of a fashion statement. People within these barriers preach of demon and human equality, others bleat that they have Split-Human Disorder, which is a new found ‘condition’ that applies to people with the apparent incapability to tell of their own species anymore. Some days they’ll act like humans, another like a demon or devil. I have a rare disorder of my own; it’s given the medical name of ‘I-can-smell-your-bullshit-from-heretivitis’ and does serious impact on my personality, tragic really. 

“Sir? Um! Your response? Sir!” The barking dogs shitty attempt at stringing words together knock me out of my little day dream, and I scoff at his irritating persona. I sit up from my desk and stretch, I walk over to my bookshelf at a leisurely pace, no way am I going to rush for Captain America. It’s a dated character that I found in one of the historical libraries, apparently there were old DVD films of the character along with ancient comic books, that was a millennium ago, times have changed drastically since then. 

“I’ll be down in a minuet” I answer finally, the dog still remains at my doorframe, his back still straight like someone shoved a blank up his asshole and it’s keeping his back rigid. I give him a pointed stare.

“I said I’ll be down in a minuet.” I repeat, the dog gives me a confused frown. Why was he giving me a confused frown, what did he think he was going to escort me 10 steps down the hall and another 20 down the stairs? What a trek. I think I may even get lost at such a colossal distance, where did I put my maps again? I’d hate to end up someplace deathly like the broom cupboard. 

“That’s your queue to hit the road, honey” Hanji’s voice arose from behind the dog and he startled, yelping and backing away from the major, hearing the roomers as much as I of her like for, intense, experiments shall we say. 

Ah, Hanji. Sometimes I don’t know whether to hug or hit the women, but at this particular point in time its closer to hug, because now the dog is scurrying down the hallway and into the nearest room, slamming and locking the door shut behind him. She gave me a kind smile that I am unable to return, but the knowing in her eyes show just how well she understands my incapability to do so. I am thankful for that. Hanji is a friend, I enjoy her company as I assume she enjoys mine, but I am still unable to smile unless the over-spilling urge to do so arises.  
She stalks right in, not stopping to wipe her feet and drags mud all over my marble flooring, smile still so very clear on her face. I’ve changed my mind; I want to hit her instead. 

“Gooood Morning! And how is my favourite hobbit?” she says it with such happiness, such joy and bliss. She just called me a fucking hobbit. 

“I’d be more worried about what your favourite hobbit is going to throw at you if you continue to use that degrading nick name, shitty glasses.” My hand was itching for a book to throw at her already; hopefully it’ll knock some sense into the dim-witted fool, though that’s a complete lie. If truth be told Hanji is much more intelligent than me and excels academically, though I’m no fool either for that matter. 

She barks out in laughter and holds her hands up quickly, in a surrender motion; she is able to read that I was close to giving her brain damage but still continues to giggle like a 5 year old anyway. 

“Oh come on!” She strolls behind me and pushes at my shoulders, effectively nudging me out of my office and down the corridor much to my dismay. “Commander America said he has presents for us.”

“Presents?” I repeat, not bothering to correct her and instead showing my interest as I am continually pushed down the several more corridors and spiralling staircases downwards. 

“Hm.” She mumbles. I scoff, that doesn’t give me a define answer, that isn’t even an answer, it’s a grunt. She must know I am unsatisfied with her answer because she laughs again, as loud and bright as ever.

“Yes,” she clarifies “Though he didn’t say what no matter how much I pestered him. I even bugged Mike and he said he didn’t know either.” She continues but her pushing isn’t as hurried anymore. “It’s odd.” Her tone of voice give away all that she’s as sceptical about this as I. This is odd, very odd, and I feel like I’m not even being told the half-truth, if even a quarter, though I do have a theory.

“If last night is anything to go by, it’s something to do with the captured devils.” I pipe in, Hanji makes another grunt, but one I understand, it’s of approval and a request for me to continue. “But, we hardly ever capture devils of any ranking over 8, and both you and I can tell those were nothing less than at least a rank 3.” 

She doesn’t respond and only stops her gentle nudging when we get to the door of the basement, from in front, dull thumping is heard, though that’s probably just my heartbeat. I hate to admit but I am nervous for what’s going on, I know next to nothing and as I have said, I hate not being on top, not knowing anything prevents me from taking my rightful place there. 

Hanji scoots around me and opens the door with her key card, no longer jolly and bubbly but serious and tense; I wonder if I’m mimicking her body language. 

That’s not my heartbeat. That is actual thumping coming from down in the basement. Hanji looks back at me with shocked eyes; she too must have come to the same assumption as I about the thumping. 

We both sweep our gaze to down the steps, saying nothing, we begin to walk down each step cautiously, and the thumping now accompanied by screams and growls. My one hand falls onto a piece of paper in my pocket. I have some form of protection at least, I can quickly summon a Rank 5 Angel if need be, at the very least It can suit as a distraction until I can properly summon the four Rank 3’s I have contracts with. 

When we reach the bottom, I muster up enough self-composure not to be shocked at the sight. I was expecting it to be a collaborative noise between all of the monsters here, but it’s only one. A singular devil, concealed behind three layers of strong barriers, the indestructible material of Diamond Ravida wrapped around every chain that bounds him down. 

Chains, a large sum of them, coil around his wrists repeatedly weaving in and out between the gaps of his arms. Its fingers, sown together in a threat that doesn’t hurt to weave but only tightens the more you move, its shoulders clamped and six large Diamond Ravida that heat and burn if too much movement is done weigh him down. His wings clamped shut with several spell tags and blessed swords stabbing them closed. His mouth sown shut with the same threat that keep his fingers together, but he resists against this, opening his mouth wide to scream and rage at us. Everything is chained or clapped or has a form of high restraint on it, the only acceptation being its eyes, left to dart around freely without any blindfold. 

His eyes are glorious.

His eyes send a chill in me and I creep forwards to get a better look. They’re feral. Utterly swimming with wild and raw passion to be defiant, to rebel and be a brat. They are eyes filled with golden need to devour, to rule and conquer, to simply destroy. They’re so blinded with pure rage; he’s trembling in his white hot anger and doesn’t even seem to care about the amount of blood that gushes from his mouth due to his stupidity to resist against the thread. His entire body is alight in rage.

He’s an untrained dog.

I did not realise that I managed to creep close enough to actually have the cell opened up for me and to be crouched down in front of the beast. I don’t care, I don’t give a damn how I got in here be it teleportation from fairies or that I snatched the key card from Erwin and forced my way inside, either way I was here now. I can study him with my eyes more.

The beast breaths heavily through the weights with his lips scabbed with blood clumps. His eyes are on me, his full attention is on me and the thrill it sends is just wonderful. I want this dog, I want to take this untrained beast and mould it into my personal play thing, to crush any resolve it has to attack me but keep some within the creature so it has the nerve to rebel against me. I will put the behemoth in its place, shoot it down until it obeys only me and finds pleasure in my praise. 

I want this dog, and I have every intention of getting it. 

“Levi.” Erwin speaks through hidden amusement; he seems pleased for some reason. “Have you taken an interest in our feral beast here?” 

He’s teasing me, but I don’t want to retaliate, I want this dog. I only nod in response and continue to stare at those rich eyes as they glare daggers back at me. I smirk back at him and his eyes widen in even more rage, he lets out a hiss and I cannot help but unleash a mocking chuckle. It seems taken aback and stops its fruitless attempts of breaking free for a moment to look at me with confusion.

The beast only regains his previous anger and spits in my direction, missing of course. He has shitty aim. “Noisy mutt” I state matter-of-factly, the beast lurches forwards as much as it can to try and bite at me, failing miserably. I let off another amused smirk as I push myself up and brush off all the filthy dust and grime that may have clung to my uniform, then turning, I leave the Devil’s child in his cage to continue hissing and crying like an annoying rat. 

He’ll be at my door soon though, panting and weak, I cannot keep the smirk from growing at the thought. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Eren’s POV  
I watch the small son of Adam and Eve leave, the wings on the back of his uniform ironed to perfection. I hate that, no human should have any form of perfection about them, be it their appearance or clothing.

I want to cry, just curl up and cry. I failed my duty to protect my pack. I tried so damn hard, we tried so damn hard. I’m tired, cold and my throat and body ache from the heavy weights and my foolish screaming. Everything hurts and I just want to stop, just give up and cry. I won’t cry though, certainly not in the presents of the revolting humans; I bite my bottom lip hard to distract my eyes from welling up and pattering over, it works to my relief but now my lip is swollen and stings to swipe my tongue over. 

This is damn hopeless; I probably look so pathetic and vulnerable, the best part being I am at the complete mercy of the humans now, brilliant. 

“Ahem.” 

I look up to see a tall, bulky male, smoothed down blond hair and…Icy eyes. His appearance doesn’t sit well with me, something is wrong with him, something about him isn’t correct. He has a shady glint on his features; his gentle smile brimmed with knowledge and power. I don’t like him, I really don’t like him. He has a confident posture and doesn’t look even slight intimidated by me. 

_‘The man with the Ice Eyes, Eren. Don’t get close. He will hurt Eren.”_

There it is again. Ever since I regained consciousness and found myself lovingly bound in this cell, that voice keeps echoing in my head and leaving me small comments of concern. It’s not a singular voice, but all of the different tones speak together harmoniously and undeniably in sync. I believed it to be my pack at first, but soon realised that none of them had yet to regain consciousness, even considering my howling and whaling that I have been performing. Whatever it is, it doesn’t want me dead.

“I judge that you’re the ring leader in your operation of action?” the blond asks with a patient tone, surprisingly there is no hatred or spite in his words. It’s a nice tone that offers friendship, but if anything it creeps me out. It sounds fake and perfect, like his voice has been well practiced. That’s even creepier. 

I don’t answer him; perhaps if he thought I lacked the ability to communicate he’ll leave me alone.

“I see. Perhaps later then?” He drops his attention from me and makes his way around to peer into the other cells, calculating eyes taking in each of my pass out friends. He stops at Armin and lingers, studying just like the smaller homosapien studied me. He begins to unlock the cell and the click of confirmation from the key code sparks panic in me.

What is he planning on doing to him? Why does he need to go into his cell? He doesn’t, he can see him just fine from the outside. Stay the hell away from my friend, don’t you dare touch. _‘Don’t you dare hurt a friend of Eren’s’._

“Back off!” I hiss out in a hoarse voice before his hand is able to make contact with Armin’s limp face. His hand retracts as if burnt and he visually recoils back. Good. He can do whatever the hell he wants to me, string me up and peel my skin back with a flame if he likes, but he dares harm, touch, speak or even look at my family and I’ll make sure his face and the floor are well acquainted. 

“I don’t think you’ll be able to do that even if you were unbound” the blond responds with a light chuckle. I’m confused for a long moment before I realise that, oh, shit. I said that aloud. I said a lot of things aloud. There goes my playing dumb plan. 

He stalks back over to me, whether he was purposely slamming his boots down into the floor or if he is just that heavy I don’t know. It made a pang of fear worm its way into my gut either way.

“You’re close then?” It’s a simple question and doesn’t threaten to squeeze any information from me, or not any that I would consider held against us as a danger anyway.

“He’s like my brother. I cherish him like he is a part of my mother’s litter. That applies to the others as well; hurt them and I won’t hesitate to shove Matter up your asshole to eat you inside out.” I assume I sound like a joke because he only chuckles and shakes his head.

“No” he says, turning to look back at Armin again “I’m only interested in him, and I have no intention to harm him, you don’t need to worry about that” His pupils dilate. I didn’t know humans could do that at will, I thought that was something only we could do to adjust to different light settings or emotions. It isn’t dark in here either; the place is paved in white and baby blue, small disks of light fitted into the ceiling and these large screens with grids on the side of our cells, accompanied by a slot to place the Key Card into, I assume. 

So with such a well-lit environment, why does he feel the need to do such a thing? Whatever the reason I don’t like it, he’s lingering on Armin again. 

“Can you stop that? I feel uncomfortable just watching you stare at him like that.” My voice cracks half way in the middle of my back talk, I feel like I am becoming more and more pitiful the more I continue to strain my throat to speak. 

“You’re criticising me for staring at someone when you are very much doing the same to me?” He raises his eyebrows at me in a challenge. 

“I’m keeping a close eye on you. There is a difference. You seem very interested in Armin and I wonder if your word to not hurt him was actually just complete bull” He smirks now, his laugh more breathily, sending an uneasy shiver of disgust down my spine. Oh he’s creepy. 

“I have no intention of harming him; my word still stands, unless he likes that of course.” His irises are almost gone and only a black sphere is left against the white, but it’s his comment that brings me to realisation. He didn’t want to hurt Armin, oh no, he had much more interest in him than that.

“You’re a sick bastard, stay the fuck away from my kin.” How am I supposed to contain my fury when he is literally eye fucking one of my closest friends? You don’t, threaten them and draw their attention away. 

He snaps his posture to straight and intimidating, his nostrils flare out and his jaw is clenched tight. His cold eyes stare deep into mine and I pry them away to look at the side instantly, pretending to take interest in the chains the climb up my arms. Would you look at that? How pretty. 

“Know you place, demon spawn.” He hisses the words off of his tongue like they’re a substance of bile.  
“I’m a Devil, not a demon, there is a difference you informed fuck.” I really shouldn’t be talking; my outbursts of threats are making my throat raw.

His anger then melts away and he’s laughing, full blown cackling. I stare at him, highly confused and expecting to hear and explanation for his outburst of laughter. 

“I believe you mean ‘ignorant’”

Ignorant. Whatever. Both start with I. 

After he composes himself he walks over to the screen situated beside my cell on the outside, he touches the screen and I hear beeps and see small light reflects onto his hands as he pats away at it. 

Suddenly, the chains loosen, the weights become weightless and the clamps spring out of their tight grips and fall to the floor. I wriggle out of all the offending chains, clamps to find they’ve all brittle and rusted over. They were not like that just a second ago; otherwise I could have easily snapped them in two. It’s then that I realised my hands, I spread my fingers apart and watch the thread woven through them separate like cobwebs, not a single hole in place around any of my digits. 

I place a hand to my mouth and feel around for thread and holes. None. I search my wrists and arms, around my neck and stretch out my wings. No bruises, indents, blood, scratches. Everything is gone? 

I turn to him for answers again and he flashes me that creepy smile. Ugh. 

“We had to put up the percentage of the barriers consuming you to match the aura you were giving off, also why your blood loss was so great, though you don’t look in the best of shapes now.” 

That doesn’t answer the question I was trying to ask him so I suppose I’ll have to speak.

“Why…Heal…Quick?” wow. My voice is barely a whisper and I can’t even manage to create a worthwhile sentence, not only that it’s freezing. 

“You’re trembling” Well no duh. It’s probably about 7°C in here. I wobble to stand on my feet, using the wall to lean against and take my weight. This feels familiar. 

The blond man looks at me with his eyebrows cast downwards into a frown, how humorous; they almost look like one giant caterpillar. I try to laugh but it only come out as wheezing followed by repeated coughing.

“Shit.” I mutter out as I slide to the floor and curl up into myself. 

“That’s not good, his Matter levels aren’t stable at all” it’s a women’s voice that pipes up, and both my own and the blonds attention is drawn to it.

How long has she been there? Since when has she been there? 

Her appearance strikes me, I recognise her, or at least I think I do? Glasses, brown hair scrapped back into a pony tail, quite tall. I rattle my brain for a name, a memory, a something that’ll give me a hint on why she looks so familiar. 

“Hanji, I forgot you were here.” The blond sounds embarrassed but nothing on his face indicates that. ‘Hanji’ gives a light chuckle before she shoves the blond man out of the way and tampers with the screen next to my cell.

“Yeah, I know, I can even see the erection you’re neutering in your pants. Looks like Captain America found his Peggy Carter.” Hanji’s response makes me chuckle, it’s winded and probably sounds strained, but I can’t pass up an opportunity to laugh at the blonds misfortune. 

“Thank you Hanji, it’s nice to know you have such high regards for your superiors.” Blonde’s tone is affectionate and friendly, not harsh and it doesn’t fit his word choice, though I suppose they’re close enough to be able to understand that. It’s like another hidden language between them. 

“No problem, Sweetie.” She laughs, but then it fades down as the screen flashes red. She gives me a once over and bites her lip. “He’s not good. He’s going to need a purification seal on him otherwise The Matter will completely consume him” 

Wait, they know about The Matter? 

“Should I go get Mike? He can perform it, and then we can put him back here when he’s done. The only trouble will be the contract and visits 3 times a day minimum.” Purification seal? Daily visits? I understand none of this; maybe they are talking a different language after all. The blond speaks of me like I’m some kind of rag doll though, and that pisses me off. He pisses me of. He is the personification of piss Eren off. 

“When Levi could do it and make a contract of his own? You’ll be the one to break it to him, I like my head attached to my body.” She taps at the screen again and the barriers, shattering and dissolving away in tiny glittering fragments. I marvel its beauty for only a short moment before one of my arms is hauled up and tugged around the brunette’s neck; she hulls me up on my noodle like legs and I drop all of my weight onto her unintentionally. 

I’m relaying on a human, how the tables have turned, but I’m too weak to fight, just pant and tremble. My other arm is lifted and thrown around a higher neck, I can only assume its Captain America’s, an odd name, but if he can help drag me out of my cell and to a destination that’ll help me recover then maybe I’ll reward him with allowance for a 2 second glance at Armin. Maybe.

“To Mike?” Hanji asks, dragging my body out of the cell and towards some steps. 

“To Levi. He seemed to interested not to be livid if he were to find out we gave a new toy away, that and I like my head attached to my body as well.” They begin to haul me up the stairs as the same two names are repeated again, Mike? Levi? What kind of dumb name only has four letters? That’s stupid and hard to say, why would-Oh. Eren. Right. 

I don’t bother to pay attention anymore, everything hurts despite there being no marks left behind from my restraints, several beeps and swooshing motion of doors is the only thing I can really register, their voices nothing but varied pitches of mumbling. Another final door slides open and a warm breeze hits my face, I helplessly try to lean into it to try and absorb the rooms warmth. 

“Jesus Christ have none of you heard of a permission code? I almost had my bare ass out and-.” Whoever is inside the warm room sounds angry for whatever reason. I can’t see anymore, just a fuzz of black and white splodges that jitter as the move in my vision. “Get him in the circle and find my ceremony book.” The voice is direct an punctuated, snapping out orders as I am dragged and dropped onto the floor, I groan on impact and try to tuck into myself, but I can’t even manage to part my lips. 

“Alright, out, unless you both want to witness black shit with eyes coming out of his ass.” This man sounds like a real charmer, it sounds like a man anyway, be they male or female they had a nice smooth voice, even if they words they are saying aren’t the most appropriate.

“Charming as ever.” It’s the blond man’s voice, and it’s accompanied by Hanji’s laugh. 

“And you’re as incommodious as ever.” There is a small pause.

“Nice pants.” The crude man speaks again in his silky voice, but tisks when Hanji only laughs louder and more boisterous. “I’d actually like to get this done so I can attempt another shower without any interruptions.”

Her laughing dies down to mild giggles, “Okay, okay we’re out of your hair! Vamoosh! Gone! Didn’t even see us! Poof! Crawling away like a slippery snail that leaves no trail! Into the night like a-”

“-Fucking blade up your ass if you’re still here within the next 4 seconds” Sharp screeching of an unsheathing blade allow me to hear just how damn serious this human is being. His words are laced with a barely detectable hint of humour and mirth, though that might be my ears trying to compensate for my lack of eyesight. 

Wait, when did my eyesight even deteriorate so sharply? My eyelids are open, I can feel them open. I feel my throat begin to tighten and clench shut, the insides swollen and allowing little air to pass through. I don’t have an inkling to what is going on with my body recently, It’s been acting up a lot in random sparks so I assumed it might have been because of too much strain on my body for training, but even before I had trained that day it would clench and searing burning sensations would ripple through my veins. 

I bite my lip to muffle my pained groans, not wanting the kin of Adam and Eve to know of my weak state. Though silence is all I can hear for a passing few seconds, my labouring breath and quiet screams of pain the only thing heard. 

It’s quickly broken with the movement of their legs, boots snapping onto the hard flooring beneath me, but no chatter accompanies it, the only other sound being the door sliding shut and fading steps.

Fingers, fingers are running through my hair and none to gently gripping at the strands, my nerves are hypersensitive to pain at this particular point so what would normally only emit an irritated ‘ow’ instead unleashes a hiss and whine of agony which is loud even through my teeth; the holder doesn’t loosen his grip at my expense, so there was little point in openly vocalising my pain anyway.

“You even managed to blight your eyes, dog.” The silk-voiced owner states more to himself than to me. He gently lays my head onto the floor. I’m slightly surprised he doesn’t let it fall freely so it can whack against the hard surface and cause me more pain. Odd, that’s what I would do to any human I can dig my nails into.

“Petra, Erd, Gunther, Aurou. Lend me your assistance.” Soon after his command my Matter stirs to life, I can feel it writhing inside my head at a possible danger. From the waves I’m getting, I guess a few of our angelic friends have made their presents know, they’re always fun to play with.

Though their waves feel dull and attuned low, I guess there is interference with me receiving them, because otherwise my Matter would be reacting much worse, currently it only feels as if its slumber has been disturbed. 

“Corporal.” the voice is feminine but brimmed with rage and hatred, which may have something to do with me being here. Though Corporal is a mystery, either that name belonged to the silk-voiced man or it was one of the heavenly creature’s companions. 

“At ease. His matter has given him blight, badly as you can see from the condition of his skin and eyes. We’re going to extract the infected Matter from this dog but we’re going to have to work quickly.” The silk-voiced man is closer now and a feel several prods at my face with a leathery texture, it was soft at first and almost caressing, but then progressively pokes harder and harder and I snap out for them to ‘stop it’ but it merely comes out as a simple grumble. 

“See? Harmless. Now hurry up.” A group of exhales must have been from the angles, it appears relieved and their feet are light as several pairs approach me.

This can’t get more humiliating if I tried. Here I am, on the floor like a paralysed worm as my two sworn enemy species loom over me and watch me suffer, fantastic. 

Oddly though, I don’t feel scared. I should be, but I am not. I feel calm and composed here which makes me question if there are scents and spell tags that ooze off that intended affect. I inhale and try to pick up the scent, it’s fresh and clean, undertones of a sweaty musk but not unpleasant, it’s a soothing scent actually and that’s probably why I don’t feel the urge to spring up perform a massacre. 

“Enjoying yourself, dog?” Turning of paper pages, the flapping rapid and consistent as the pages fall and card together quickly, possibly looking for the right page, though I hardly see how this is an appropriate time for loosing yourself in the delights of reading, though I’m ashamed to admit I was never properly taught the ways of literature and usually just bug Armin to read things too me. 

“I’d relish in whatever piece of mind you’ve found for every second you can grab, this is going to hurt more than backwards childbirth through your left nostril” he sounds amused but doesn’t add the addition of laughter, though there are a few sniggers which come from his angelic company. 

Suddenly there is a click and I can’t move my body. Suddenly there is a bright light and I can see again. Suddenly my organs feel crushed and withered. 

I cry out in pain despite my raw throat, I feel wounds open on my skin and black gas begin to pour out. My Matter is being taken away from me. This is bad, this is very bad. Without The Matter I am powerless and drained of any energy, I’m better off dead.

I try and protest for them to stop, to cease pulling away my power; I look at each and every one of the angles around me, now capable of seeing. They all have flawless faces, all gentle and creamy, but all scrunched in concentration, each of their hands and stances are positioned differently, little things I observe despite the tear worthy pain.

 

If it were not for the robes and angelic attire, I would not be able to detect who is the human among the bunch. The man who came into my cage before stands there with an open book hovering above is open palm, fingers splay outwards in a feminine and elegant gesture, but it doesn’t look odd on this man, it fits him.

 

Everything about this man fits him, even his cold eyes that latch onto mine, the way amusement bleeds into them and the way a small crease forms under his eyes when he discreetly lifts the corners of his mouth, his lips part and I wait for that silky smooth voice to speak out again. Even if the words are not to my mercy.

 

“Grit your teeth dog,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I hope you don't mind me breaking my promise to update every weekend again.
> 
> "I'll do it next weekend" I whisper to myself as I scroll through the Ereri tag until 2AM.
> 
> Please forgive all of my terrible mistakes and I would like to thank you all again for all your kind words and support.
> 
> *Ollies out*


	5. What hurts me, hurts you.

I can’t do it anymore. I can’t. I’m drained and tired of fighting. I’m finished.

 

I’m.

 

I’m sad that I couldn’t protect my kin, my companions, my pack. I am so frustrated that humans are the cause for all of this. I am so damn angry it has to be this way.

 

But it doesn’t, does it? Isn’t that why I am here? To teach these pieces of shit who actually is on top?

 

My cries flatter and I’m only left to calm myself down, the pain still remains but I am too caught up in my own maze of thoughts to actually care.

 

“Corporal, he’s passed out. Should we take that as a sign that he’s been drained enough?” The females voice pipes up and wait for directions from Corporal again. 

 

“The dog isn’t drained, take a look at his eyes, they are practically steaming with rage.” Corporal comments with a hidden glint of interest, eyeing me carefully.

 

But steaming with rage I am. These humans, these sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, the beastly homosapiens, these disgusting, vile- “Putrid, revolting, greedy, selfish, pieces of shit that I’ll inhalant, I’ll fucking gut you.” 

 

“Oh, how I quake in my boots.” Corporal’s interest soon flatters and he has his stoic bored expression he was wearing earlier plastered back onto his face. I can’t help but feel disappointed at his reaction, I feel a small balloon in my mind flatter at not pleasing him, a very small part of me wants to please him, but I quickly bury that though. 

 

“Then I’ll show you.” I growl and I muster up all the strength I have left and stagger onto my feet, my wings spread and fangs bare. 

 

“Corporal!” It’s a man’s voice this time, a man who seems to look in his early 40’s. He wears similar attire to Corporal, but doesn’t look nearly as flattering. 

He is panicked and aims a small golden dagger at me, which I take advantage off. His movements are stuttered as he blindly moves in to swing the blade at me, which I dodge with not as much ease as I would like too, but it’s something. I quickly grab his wrist and yank him towards me, swooping my legs into his as he spreads his wings to maintain balance. 

Big mistake. 

Just like demons and devils use their tails for balance, angles lack that and use their wings, which are much lighter and flexible than our own leathery ones. But this makes them more fragile, like our tails. 

 

I grab the bend in both of his wings tightly while manoeuvre around him as best I can, trying to also avoid the incoming attacks from the other angles. Their movements from their stances has broken the circle and pain ebbs away. 

I can fight now. I can destroy them, I can-

 

My tail is yanked back, which surprises me, I don’t leave it out and in one place long enough to be caught.

I yelp and fall down onto the solid flooring, face first and painfully. 

Two fingers and sharply pressed onto the base of my neck, enough pressure to feel it and I shudder as numbness overtakes me. I begin to relax unwillingly. Stupid devil anatomy with its stupid weak points that my stupid captor seems to know about them. 

“Corporal?” Jesus I wish they would stop using his name in every damn sentence they say. I glare at them as much as my head will allow me to move. Wait. One, two, three, four..? Where’s Corporal?

“So much for Harmless.” The silky voice comes from behind me. Oh no. Oh shit, please don’t tell me I’m in submission under Corporal. It’s one thing being captured by an angle; at least you’re both on equal grounding of similar anatomy and Matter usage, but to be captured by a human being is just humiliating. 

“Get off me you bastard” My voice is slurred with the undeniable relaxation that pulses through me. That was supposed to sound intimidating and hold a promise of pain. 

Corporal pushes his fingertips in harder, careful not to use his nails as he rotates the pads in circular motions, I resist the urge to sigh contently, but I can tell I fail miserably because I hear a chuckle from behind.

“Too easy.” Corporal purrs as he lets my tail fall from his hand, curling up instantly at the TLC I’m receiving. This is embarrassing, so damn embarrassing. 

“How did he go from blood-thirsty hound to whimpering puppy in a blink of an eye?” The angle who attacked me first buffs out his chest as he aims his comment at me mockingly, looking way too proud of himself even though I kicked his ass.

“Just as you go lax with wing pruning, devils are very much the same when their Matter gland is rubbed. They become numb, dribbling messes, but it’s hard to contain one long enough to do so.” Corporal answers correctly and that pisses me off even more, but that quickly ebbs away in the pleasure that relaxes every muscle in my body and changes my breathing into deep intakes and slow outtakes. 

The angles watch, fascinated by me as well as guarded. One of the blond haired angles gingerly reaches a hand out towards me; he takes cautious steps forwards like he’s afraid he’ll startle me. Careful, I bite. 

His hand gently brushes my wing and regardless of my wanting need to slap him with my leathery flying instrument, my gland is still releasing too much of whatever the hell it is that makes me just want to curl up some place warm and sleep. 

I never did pay attention in school, Armin probably knows about every atom and cell in our bodies, go ask him. 

“They’re heavy” The blond angle tests the weight in his hands and the other three angles creep forwards and begin to inspect me too. Great.

“I have a present for you, dog” Corporals words make me shudder. It’s probably an innocent comment but the way he moulded the word ‘present’ so breathily makes me think otherwise, and I won’t deny it’s not something I find unpleasant at all.

I hear shuffling, but his fingers still stay in place on my neck, so I can’t turn to see what ‘present’ he has for me.

But I don’t need to see it when I feel his fingertips tickle away from my neck, only to be replaced with more as they start from the front of my throat and slide all the way to the back gently, I begin to shudder openly now at the contact, company be damned. 

There is a soft click and a bleep that directs my attention away from the desirable fingers that traced my throat. He wasn’t stroking my neck, he was _collaring_ me. 

And suddenly his fingers are gone, he moves around to crouch down in front of me next to the other angles, they look startled at leaving me suddenly unattended but seem to trust Corporal’s instinct enough to know that I cannot be of more harm at the moment. Well, at least they aren’t poking at me anymore.

“He doesn’t look like the others…” The blond male of the group speaks up again, giving me a quizzical look as he visually continues to judge me. Rude.

“It doesn’t matter if he does or doesn’t look like the others, he’s still a rabid beast that needs to be put down.” Corporal sneers at me like I am some lowly life form, when in actual fact he should be looking at his own reflection with disgust. 

His kind are the ones who have murdered countless innocent Pups, raped and beaten their mothers and fathers in front of them, kidnapped and tarred apart packs, burnt and destroyed our homes. They’re the rabid beasts; we only retaliate because it’s for our own safety and in defence. 

Corporal pulls himself up before pivoting around and walking to a desk, he kicks the chair out before slumping down on it as it automatically pulls him towards the desk, grids and maps _float_ around the perimeter, I can’t see the desk surface from down here, but I assume it’s installed with all these other gadgets and touch-screen compatible floating holograms.

“You say that-” I cough before I can finish; it winds me as my body jerks along with the sounds. “-You say that, but aren’t you being a hypocrite?” 

“Hm?” Corporal doesn’t look at me, doesn’t even spare me a glance as he continues to tap away at the surface of the desk. 

“You rape, murder, torture and slaughter, so how dare you class us as the rabid beasts when you yourself are clearly far worse! You’re cowards! You wear uniforms that are supposed to represent freedom, this isn’t freedom, what you do isn’t freedom, it’s the work of monsters who-“ 

“-Shut up, dog.” His words are dark and icy, I much preferred his tone when it was bored and showed disinterest, now its spine chilling, cold and silently seething. Slow and calm footsteps creep towards me and a shadow forms over me, suddenly he doesn’t look so small anymore.  
“You know nothing, absolutely fucking _nothing_ about what the human race has had to endure, suddenly we have had to adapt, learn magic that our bodies are not capable of withholding long, suddenly create barriers to keep you beasts out and away, to prevent _you_ from raping, murdering, slaughtering” He raises a boot and I flinch away, expecting him to smash it down onto me.

He doesn’t. He tips my head gently with the tip to give him a better anger to bore his eyes into mine.

“We only do that because you attacked us first! You attacked our first pillar and destroyed the first patch of our territory, it’s only natural we treat you like you treated us.” I hiss at him, trying to push my reasoning into his head and show him just who the monsters are. 

“You’re wrong. Your kind attacked first, I know better than anyone that you attacked first, otherwise I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be in this damn legion and I wouldn’t be wasting my time listening to dribbling dogs struggle to pull out any excuse they can out of their ass.” He spits back at me with twice as much venom, and before I know it I lurch forwards at him.

He grabs my wrists and flips me over so I almost fall onto my back, but I quickly twist my body and fan out my wings to stabilise myself and fly up, grabbing hold of the beams and digging my claws into it as I glare down at him. He’s upside-down in my line of view now but I don’t let my childish tactic distract me from continuing to lash at him.

“That’s a lie! We have never attacked without reason; you drew our blood first so we drew yours.” 

“Of course you believe it’s a lie, your kind, you _dogs_ will twist history to suit you better, write it so that you’re the knights in shining armour, some heroic force that are fighting for the greater good. You’re a fool if you think any of it is remotely true.” He fixes his molten glare on me, not prying then away for even a second. 

“It’s true. I was there.” I fume in short, snapping out each word with a growl. I continue to view him from my high perch, trying to read if he’ll launch an attack on me. I wouldn’t put it past him to know exactly how to get me down with child-worthy ease, but he remains to keep our eyes locked.

Corporal and I play our little game of stare down a while longer before he sighs and rips it away, using his fingers to rub small circles in his forehead, much like he did to my neck.

“This isn’t getting anywhere. Fine, whatever, believe whatever the hell you like, that’s not important.” He turns back to his angelic company and I am quickly reminded of their existence again, they were so quiet and blended in so well I didn’t notice them, even with their golden and pure white blades pointed towards me. 

“He’s just a brat,” He drags a hand up through his hair, breathing out another exasperated sigh. “I thought he’d be something more worthwhile, I have no need for him. Do as you please.” 

Wait, what?

The angles give curt nods and flutter towards me, their wings allowing for elegance but also sharp mobility, and having four charge at me all at once catches me off guard and I’m suddenly thrown down by the female, her eyes narrowed and mouth clenched.

I land on the floor again, but with harsher impact than I have been before. A bright light illuminates around me, and the four angles are stationed in the positions they were previously, hands each forming different shapes and their eyes squinted shut in concentration. 

No. No, no, no!

This is all moving way too fast, I don’t have time to gather any of my thoughts before the angles begin to chant. The white beads of light, clinging to me and oozing into a dark black at the corruption of contact onto me, impuring their pure Matter. Wait, I can corrupt their magic, if it worked on the generators, why not with them? It’s similar magic, it’s worth a shot.

I sink my fangs into the flesh around my thumb and grunt at the feeling of it break, my blood soon flows out of the wound and I shake the liquid around the circle and watch it shatter instantly.

Now I’m moving fast, faster than I did before as I easily dodge attacks how, predicting their placements. I feel oddly energised; I can easily get use to this feeling. I smirk at my new found advantage as their movements began to tire, nonetheless still too stubborn to break their elegant movements. Everything about their movements is flawless. Precise footwork, incredible wing usage, direct blows with accurate precision; I’m highly surprised I am able to dodge them. 

I am surprised actually, really I shouldn’t be capable of slipping past each and every one of their blows, that’s physically impossible even considering my ranking and I should at least gain a graze or too, but nothing. I quickly decide not to dwell on it and instead use that small key as an escape route.

I bounce back and morph away in a flash, flattening my form into a dark shadow on the floor as I weave away from them easily. This is all easy. They are unable to even touch me. What a blow on humanity it would be if I just sneak under the door, grab my companions and escape. With a burst of confidence I dash to do just that.

Only. I’m pulled back, like I’m choked. 

I realise I’m being dragged away from my puddle of shadow and yanked back into my default form. I’m being pulled away. How? I am practically intangible in that state?

“Going somewhere dog?” I don’t have to turn around to see the smug smirk on Corporal’s face; I can already hear his amusement at my failed escape attempt in his voice. Shit.

I snap my head around to glare at him and my eyes catch the white, glistening chain in his hand, following each loop over to me, to the back of my neck. To the back of that collar he latched onto me before. I reach my hand to grab it and yank it off to only find out how badly it _burns_.

“Fuck!” 

I look to see Corporal retract his right hand from the chain like it…Burnt him?

He shoots his eyes back at me with a dark glare, his lips parted back in a sneer. “What was that, dog?” I flinch at his tone, it’s practically overflowing with hatred, raw despise for me.    
“I…It.” I babble out, unable to string words together. 

“Whatever it was you just did, you transferred your pain to me, dog. That should have melted your hand away upon contact.” Corporal growls, quickly loosing patients with me, and for some reason I find half of me wanting to respond to his harsh words, willingly spilling out the answer he wants, but then again I don’t, not just because I don’t even know what happened, but because how dare he talk to me like he’s better. How dare he call me a lowly dog. 

I smirk “I haven’t been trained to properly obey orders like a mindless dog, I’m afraid” and with a surge of bravery, I wrap both my hands around the pure white chain and grunt through my teeth as it peals away at my skin, but I’m not the only one in pain. 

Corporal lets out a barely audible intake at the pain, but still holds onto the chain with a vice grip. I watch as his eyes narrow into slits of livid grey-blue and his black hair frame his face with an overcasting shadow over his eyes, making them gleam out and look just that much more threatening.

“Then I guess I’ll just have to train you myself.” And with the promise of those dark words I’m heftily wrenched towards the small human, but I protest the dragging, pulling back with all I have before I’m shoved forwards by his stupid angelic company. 

Once they pull me into a carefully drawn circle, they all back off, letting the symbols take their desired effect to drain me of any capable movement. Great, now I’m back to square fucking one.

Corporal lets go the chain with a relieved sigh when I do eventually let go on my end as well, looking over his purple blistered hands at the burning. Mine are in no better state.

“Fuck…You really did a great number on me dog. Thanks.” He gently opens and closes his hands with small winces, but isn’t able to continue after his feathered friend’s crowd around him and fawns over the condition of his hands. 

I find it ironic really, here I am disobeying every single command he throws my way, yet here are his angle quadruplets happily bending themselves backwards to ensure they do every commanding word that passes his lips, along with unasked for caring and concern for his health and condition. Yet here I am, receiving evil glares and given the irritable nickname of ‘dog’, hardly seems well thought out. 

Dogs stay when you tell them, speak when you tell them and love you without expecting anything in return other than your attention even for a fleeting second, but of course, considering that none of those apply to me, I am still dubbed that name. That makes so much sense, of course, how stupid of me to not have clearly seen it before. 

The tingling in my hand strikes my attention and I sluggishly bring it up to look at. The familiar black smoke of my Matter wheedles its way out of my bleeding burns and begins to sooth it with gentle strokes. I watch as the ugly black and purple bruises fade at their touch, taking that stinging, cold pain with it. 

I sigh when the process is finished and let my hand slump down. I’m tired and everything feels heavy, I contemplate just curling up a sleeping here. 

“It’s gone…His burns are…” I don’t know who said it, but the voice surely didn’t belong to Corporal, it sounded whiney though like it was trying oh-so-hard to imitate the sarcastic and bored tone that Corporals voice perfected but with an additional husky deep caress to it. 

I am complimenting a human’s voice. Suddenly the urge to swallow bleach seems more satisfying than wanting to continue thinking about a damn voice, and a humans no less. 

“What the hell are you?” It’s Corporals sweet voice again, and being constantly reminded of that tone really doesn’t help when you are trying to evade it as much as possible. 

I don’t register that they might be talking to me until there is tense silence; I lift my head to see 5 pairs of eyes on me, some confused, some showing small strands of fear and a singular molten blue-grey gaze that is woven with interest and curiosity. Oh man, I’m staring, look away and act cool. 

I watch him search his hand to find that his hand, too, is clean of any of the purple and black bruises. Didn’t he burn his hand, or is that just me imagining? I could have sworn…

“A devil?” I try to offer helpfully, giving a timid lopsided grin paired with a small shrug of my shoulders.

“Incredible.” Corporal’s voice, when actually trying to be sarcastic, almost makes me laugh out loud at how dry and wrapped around ‘Are you actually serious right now. Contemplate your entire life for a second and ask yourself. Really. Fucking. Really?’ perfectly. Almost, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stop me from laughing out loud because nothing about this situation is even remotely funny.

“Wipe that disgusting smirk off of your face, that wasn’t any form of friendliness.” And suddenly the honour is gone and I’m reminded that he’s human, a heartless, selfish, cold and homicidal human. I also remind myself that I hate them, every single one, so I hate him; I detest him and wish to rip him inside out. Yes, that’s what I want.

“Dick.” I mutter, it’s a childish move but when you have no means of much move movement other than moving your head and slow and steady movements of your arms and legs, it’s kind of all you can do for some kind of entertainment. I might as well piss him off to an extent where he cannot stand me to I can go back into the dungeon, conspire up an escape plan when Armin awakens and get out.

“Ouch, you’ve mortally wounded me, I may need to go be transferred to A & E for heartbreak.” Despite the serious situation, his companions snigger anyway, biting their lips to stop from full blown laughter. His sarcasm is amusing, I’ll admit, but it’s not enough to want to stay in his company.

 

“So, what are you then, dog?” 

I really, really wish he would stop calling me that. 

“I just told you, a devil” I may be foolish, but I am not enough so to blindly blurt out too much information. I am pretty positive that they won’t take kindly to me being the son of Satan. 

“Yeah, we know. But you’re obviously above a rank 5, I would guess you’re a rank 3.” He pauses to walk back over to his desk, dropping back in his chair and leaning it back, eyes still on me. “It’s a long shot, but I assume you’re a duke.” 

I almost laugh again, but this time at his cluelessness. A duke, well that’s something I can work with as a worst case scenario, but I almost want to tell him how utterly far of he is in the ranking system for me just to watch his face stretch in surprise. 

“You don’t really think I’ll tell you that now, do you?” I try and choose my wording carefully, not implying I’m a duke, but not completely banishing that thought from them either.

“I suppose you really aren’t a complete mindless fool then, seems you have at least two functioning brain cells to rub together. Well done you.” 

Either I’m already getting used to his snarky comments or I just can’t find myself to care anymore. 

Corporal stands up and stretches, huffing as he rotates his shoulders and it’s then, and only then that I realise he’s _shirtless_.

How do you miss that detail. How does anyone ever miss that detail. The answer is that no one misses that detail but here I am. 

Now that I’ve noticed, I can’t stop gawking. Oh man is that an 8 pack? I didn’t even know you could get those. I want one.

_‘Remember Eren, he’s a human, one of those beasts that took away your mother and father.’_

That voice again. I could almost kiss it for slapping sense back into me. What was I thinking? Humans are revolting, they are all the personification of imperfection, they kill, they rape, they steal, they live to destroy, and I hate every single one of them. 

“What do you want?”

“What crawled up your asshole and died? You were pretty peppy a moment ago.” He doesn’t pay mind to me and instead flicks through some digital screen, searching for some nonsense.

“You have ‘no need’ for me, remember? Put my back with my pack then.” I hiss at him, I start to dislike this small man less and less again, which silently pleases me. Good, I don’t want any attachment to humans other than hatred.

“Oh no, that was before you pulled your little magic trick from out of your hat. I thought you were the equivalent of a drunken seagull, but now I have new found interest in you again, congrats.” He stops his screen sliding momentarily to look at me briefly before turning back and continuing. Well that was utterly pointless. 

“Good to know. Now put me back with my pack.”

“Hey! That rhymes!” 

I jump, and judging by the others jolts, they were not expecting the additional person to join the convocation either.

“Jesus Hanji, you scared the shit out of me.” Corporal places a hand over his heart and breaths out, straightening up and then makes a pathway towards a white cube located beside supportless shelves with browning books stacked on top of them. Corporal presses the top of the white cube and a blue screen flashes vertically upwards, showing s digital picture of a t-shirt, trousers and shoes, along with a small arrow at the bottom corner. 

Corporal places his index finger to the digital 3D image of a shirt and then another screen opens, I watch with interest as an assortment of colours appear and he clicks a white one. Suddenly the screen is gone and the top of the white cube opens, Corporal reaches in and pulls out a white, button up shirt. 

I cannot help my jaw dropping as I finished watching the process. Did that white cube just make a shirt? 

“What’s wrong little guy? Haven’t you ever seen one before?” I squawk at the voice because. Brown- haired women- By the door but- By me now- I was- she just by the- Okay. 

She laughs and goes to reach into the circle and I sure as hell don’t stop her. By all means reach in and break the circle so I can escape. Please.

“Don’t! It took us an entire hour and a half to get the shitty dog in there.” Corporal comments as he begins to evenly slot the buttons of his created shirt through the appropriate holes. 

The women retracts her hand but still stays close.

“Ahhh~ Look at him! How very interesting! Do you have a name? I’m Hanji! Can you speak?” She continues to keep her eyes on me, and although they seem kind enough I must remember that these are humans, they’ll drag me into false security and then gut me the first change they get.

“Oh he talks alright, but it’s another language, bullshit I believe.” Owner of the snarky comment doesn’t even spare us a glance- surprise, surprise- and instead busies himself with gliding his fingertips along the spines of various books that lay on the bookshelves. 

I growl to at least vocally let him hear how pleased I am with the comment.

“You’ll have to ignore Levi; he’s an old man now and can only find amusement through sarcasm. Kind of sad really.” Hanji, as I suppose I should call her, smirks while flashing Corporal a large thumbs up.

Levi?

“Watch it. This ‘old man’ could kick your sorry ass.” 

Who’s Levi?

“Ahahaha! Are you sure you can even reach my ass? Let’s not aim too high, let’s go for what you’re capable of, try my ankle!” 

Levi…That name sounds familiar, why can’t I place it to a face?

“I’m going to go ahead and pretend I think you’re implying you’re abnormally tall and you are not poking fun at my height unless you’d like to be in a casket by the end of the day.”

Levi…Levi…It sparks memory  
A memory.

It’s a fond and sweet filled memory but…

I can’t remember it.

“Sorry, can’t hear you from all the way down there, did you say something?”

“Who’s Levi?” I ask without even realising I said it until it blurts out. I look expectantly at Hanji and Corporal anyway, hoping they’ll answer me.

“Who indeed.” Corporal hides a snigger from behind his hand as he continues to search through the bookshelf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I would like to apologise for all the suddenly appearing things in the chapter like: 
> 
> 'When did that table get there'  
> 'Why is there an elephant in my bath'  
> 'Why am I in New Zealand'  
> 'Who are you and why are you taking my bed.'
> 
> It's part of Eren's dizziness from all that's going on with his body.  
> Lets call it Devil Puberty.
> 
> Sorry long notes, Sorry for any possible mistake and thank you all very much for reading! I greatly appreciate it! ;; <3  
> Also this is a few hundred words shorter than the other chapters hhhh sorry.


	6. They're all five

‘Who indeed’?

Everything is just a giant clump of confusion and uncertainly in this near constant headache of mine. No matter what I do, all the solutions seem to be tangled together and then a flaw makes its presents known and mixes everything up even more, it’s infuriating.

My health is usually nothing to be a concern of, in fact I never get ill, I always believed I was incapable of such a thing like diseases, fevers and flus until now. I have never felt so continually nauseous in my life. I’ve always been healthy and active, and it’s not like my habits have all suddenly been dropped, I play as much as I train, but I also ensure I have sensible amounts of rest too.

I groan and close my eyes, shaking my head.

“You know what? Fine, by all means continue with your petty game of Guess Who, I have a pack waiting for me and I would appreciate it is you were to prod me in their direction.” I say bluntly, not even trying to hide how much venom I intend to hold within each word. 

Corporal rolls his eyes, his noes curling up in disgust as dust falls off of the spine of one of the old books.

“Hanji, take him down, dogs who can’t stop barking really piss me off.” He says with distaste as he runs two fingers across the top of the sandwiched pages, shuddering at the dust that clings to the pads of his fingers when he moves them away to inspect.

But oh, how dare I. Please excuse me your majesty Corporal, for I have actually used my mouth to communicate. Shame on me.

“Ie, ie, Captain!” replies a chipper Hanji, walking over to pick up the white chain that still attaches to the collar around my neck, she twirls it around with one hand before catching it mid-air, smiling brightly at me. “I’m going to take you back down now, you’re probably still hurt, so please don’t overdo yourself, we’ll take it nice and slow little guy!”

Little guy? Well, it’s certainly an improvement from ‘dog’, but nonetheless this build-up of pet names really is starting to grind me.   
But then I notice. She’s holding the chain. 

I reach out to grab it; if it hurt Corporal then it can hurt her. I clap my hands into fists around the nobbled chain, feeling the familiar sting as it purifies my impure skin, burning away the sin that layers it. It’s painful, but it’s worth it, right? 

I look up at Hanji and gasp and she frowns down at me.

“What are you doing? That’s painful, isn’t it?”

Nothing, she doesn’t even flinch? I quickly pull my hands back, the burning being seemingly pointless if it doesn’t even make her grunt in pain. What is going on? If it hurt Corporal then surely it should-

“Will you please _stop_ sharing your pain with me?” Corporal hisses out at me through gritted teeth, his hands trembling and…Burnt. They hold the same purple blisters as last time, but this time he wasn’t even in contact with me, or the chain. I don’t understand, why isn’t it affecting Hanji? 

Hanji looks amazed, her eyes darting from both me and Corporal. “You can _share_ pain?” She fixes her excited eyes onto me “How? Can you do it to anyone? Is it because Levi pissed you off? Why didn’t you hurt me? Is it because you like me better?”

“Um…” I am at a loss, how do I even answer when not even I understand what’s going on, all of a sudden it’s like all of my senses have come on high alert and the simplest of disturbances can cause me to blow any second. 

“If that’s the case, then why didn’t he hurt us?” The blond, who I assume is the leader of the angelic squad, asks while he pours what looks like Holy Water over Corporal’s hand.

“Why would I so blindly tell you?” even if I don’t know myself, I won’t do me any harm to persuade them that I may know more than I actually do, It could even prove my usefulness even more and that could expend my execution date dramatically. 

“You won’t, because you don’t even know how you’re doing it” 

All heads turn at the new voice to see a broad male, more specifically Captain America, stood in the doorway, his head held high and what looks like a…White chain? In his hand?

“What is this, a social gathering? I wasn’t aware my office is the designated club house.” Corporal growls bitterly at the new company, clearly not a fan of being surrounded by so many people at once.

The broad blonde merely chuckles, taking longs strides into the room, tugging the chain along with him gently, it’s only when he stands next to Hanji that I see what, or more correctly, who is at the other end of the chain, their face cast down, collared and looking just as humiliating as me. 

“Armin?” 

Said boy’s head shoots up to reveal a conscious and very much unharmed Armin with wide eyes.

“Eren! You really are alive!” Armin practically rips the chain out from his captors hand and makes a dash to crouch next the barrier that contains me. “I thought he was lying. I thought you’d-” He cups a hand over his mouth and breaths steadily, trying to compose himself.

“You’re alright? Are you hurt? How’s your Matter?” I glare at the blond block of meat behind him “Did _he_ hurt you? Do anything? Say anything?” 

Armin chuckles from behind his hand and lets it fall from his face with a content sigh. “Yes, I’m alright, I’m sore from the shackles, but that’ll heal. However,” Armin joins me to glare acid at the man who dragged him here. “He hasn’t done anything to harm me, _yet_ , though I cannot confirm he won’t in the future, he is a human after all.” 

I hiss at Armin’s words, they only stir up my hatred even more for the foul beings. 

“Release him.” Armin demands, using his head to direct to me and who exactly it is he wants releasing.

“No. God no. That dog took us far too long to tire out long enough to get him into another barrier; he’s staying there for a good 24 hours.” 

Armin wrings his neck around to fixate a stare of icy-resentment at Corporal, sneering at him. “You want us to co-operate then you co-operate with us! Eren and I are strong enough to easily make your life a living hell in a matter of seconds.” He stands up and rotates his gaze to the taller blonde, his eyes holding pure knowledge as he smirks with sheer smugness. “Release him or I won’t co-operate, and wouldn’t that be a major blow for you?” 

The blonde’s one eye twitches slightly, before remaining posture of the flawless static expression. He briskly nods and keeps his eyes on me. “Release him Levi; otherwise this will only become problematic rather than beneficial” 

There is that name again, Levi. 

“Fine.” Corporal bites out.

Ah-Corporal responds to that name, perhaps it’s another name of his? A surname perhaps? Whatever it is, my mind goes into overdrive at the mention of it, trying to unbury a memory but to no avail. 

Corporal, or rather Levi, snaps his fingers and the white light that concealed me vanishes, but I am no later enveloped by Armin, his arms wrapping around my tightly as he buries his face into the crook of my neck, shaking slightly.

“I’m so glad you’re alright.” He sobs; I pat soothingly between the junctions his wings sprawl out from, muttering ‘its okay’s. Armin presses closer to my ear, his lips close. 

“Don’t freak out” He whispers, though I strain my ears to hear the hushed breath. “They can’t hear us, pretend to spout nonsense about how we’re going to get through this, I don’t want them to know what we’re talking about.” And with that Armin pulls back to reveal teary eyes and a red nose dribbling with snot, he shakes his head frantically.

“No it’s not!” he croaks, wiping the fresh tears away with the back of his wrist. “It really isn’t Eren!” He returns to burying his face into my neck, lips once again close as ‘sobs’ wrack his body. I continue my comforting with soft hushes and reassuring squeezes.

“Don’t react, that will give us away.” His hands grip tighter into the back of my shirt as he goes back to his breathily whispers “Ymir, Annie and Mikasa aren’t in any of the cells; at least not when I awoke. There is a strong possibility they weren’t captured.” I hold my breath and try not to show any shock, so I busy myself by threading my hands through Armin’s hair.

“Either way, we can’t mention them until they bring it up themselves, as far as we know; they may think we’re the only two, which can work in our favour. And another thing, Eren, they’re after you, not you directly, but they’re after ‘Satan’s offspring’ as Erwin put it, so do not under any circumstances let them know who you really are.” Armin murmurs before he pulls back away, a sad smile on his lips, he lets out a shaky sigh. “Thanks Eren. I needed that.”

‘Erwin’ – which I believe may be another name for the tall blonde - eyes us with suspicion as we break away from one another; he has already hinted some kind of exchange went between us. He’s sharper than I thought, but so is Armin, as long as he is by my side to help point us in the right direction then we’ll be okay. 

Though I do worry about the safety of Mikasa, Annie and Ymir, I must compose myself and make it appear as if Armin and I are the only ones, the girls may have escaped and are probably conspiring up some plan to get myself and Armin out as I speak. I must have faith in them, but even knowing how powerful they are, my gut doesn’t stop churning at the fear that they’ve been taken elsewhere by the humans without me know. They could be getting executed right now for all I know.

Oh shit. What if they actually are..?

Hanji practically shoves Armin out of the way; sitting almost on top of me by the way she looms close “So your name is Eren then? How odd, I thought you’d have something a little more demonic, like…Vivian or something!” 

“Vivian.” I repeat with a frown. “I have never met any demon, devil or hell hound under the name of Vivian.” 

Her eyes widen and her face cringles under her eyes as she begins to cackle, - not laugh - _cackle_. 

“You’re precious! I want one!” She slaps her knee in her fit of creepy cackling before all of it ceases and her mouth squeezes into a think line, her eyes silted and her expression suddenly dead serious. “However,” I catch myself before I can gulp loudly at the change of octave in her voice. “I may not know every fibre about your Matter, but I know just by the level restraints we have had to put on you that you’re not a feeble rank. We suspect you Eren, and we won’t hold back if we discover you are anything higher than a duke, am I understood?” 

I nod briskly but snap myself out of my scared daze, my eyes narrowing. “Do you really think anyone higher than a Duke would waste their time here? I’m pretty sure they have better things on their mind.” 

“You seem like you know.” Shit. Erwin is sharp. I breeze my glare past Hanji’s shoulder and towards him, but not at his eyes, they unnerve me and my Matter almost screams whenever I make eye contact for even a second, I settle for his eyebrows. His eyebrows are huge. Like two giant fuzzy caterpillars that are desperately reaching for one another to rejoice and become one mammoth eyebrow.

I must have sniggered because I notice them furrow downwards and his eyes illuminating in a flicker of anger, even when I am not making direct eye contact.

I straighten myself up and angle my head to the side, shrugging nonchalantly. “Maybe I do, maybe I was given orders to come here. Maybe.” I finally buck up the courage to make eye contact, his frozen blue gaze locked with my own golden one and I shiver at the sheer intensity in them.

“Understand that I don’t want you to become an enemy.” He utters as his strict features softens and he exhales the tension out of his shoulders, “That would be foolish. On the topic of fools, don’t take me for one. I know more than you could possibly fear over.” 

I try and fit what he said together into a picture of sense but all of the pieces seem jumbled and missing as I try to orderly arrange them, scattering them everywhere as I try and gain control over my nerves. My only response being an IQ burning ‘huh?’, unable to properly form and kind of come back. 

“As much as I hate to be on any kind of wavelength with this filthy mutt, I believe we both seem to be aboard the same boat of ‘what the fuckary’ sailing to ‘I have no fucking clueland’” Corporal- no - _Levi_ rather, spoke up from behind the pages of a leather bind book, hand now healed , eyeing up over the rim and fingers pinched between a page, mid-flip, stopping whatever he was reading to contribute to our convocation “I seem to be left in as much dark as him, I want answers. Why bring demons here, why keep these two and discard the other ones? Would they not be good for research?” 

I flinch. They knew about Mikasa, Annie and Ymir, of course they did, I remember seeing them bound. I hiss draw their attention all towards me, rage bubbling in my throat and Armin quickly grabs my arm to try and hold me down, he opens his mouth to speak but I beat him to it.

“What the _hell_ do you mean you _discarded_ the other ones?” everything is a blur, and I only register that I sprinted forwards and have my hands digging into Erwin’s neck when his own dig into my wrist in a bruising grip, trying to pry me off. 

And then the tangy taste of blood leaks into my mouth as something sharp pierces my neck.   
And again. And again, and again.   
Continuously stabbing and reddening my vision.   
Angels. Disgusting pure white angels are actually attacking me. 

“Stop it! You’re hurting Levi!” Hanji’s voice. That’s Hanji’s voice for sure, but it sounds muffled.

The angels withdraw their blades immediately and stumble back.

I wrap my hands around my neck in an attempt to stop the blood flow, or at least try and slow down its decent outwards. It isn’t difficult to breathe, but it’s certainly difficult to talk.

Those bastards. Those feathered pieces of shit. They’re mindless creatures of apparent purity, apparently they’re the mark of all holy and justice yet here they are blindly attacking . They’re as thirsty for blood as we are, yet they’re looked upon as the more elite, the creatures that are looked upon for wisdom. 

However, if they truly believe they can make a mockery out of me then they are more than mistaken. I didn’t spend years tactically planning for the right moment for it to be ripped away from me, I didn’t dish out promises of return the rightful king and queen of hell, along with loved ones of the people, to come back to announce each one was empty. 

I slow down my breathing, I’ll fuel my anger in the right places, I’ll let my rage enhance my movements and not control them. This is my body so I should have complete control over it, every speck of Matter that flows through me is my own and so I should control it. It’s my own blood; my own eyes, my own senses; my own emotions; my own beliefs and my own will to make sure I obliterate any reminisce of the Human Race and turn everything of theirs to dust.

I block out the screams, the hands on me and the stabs of pain and replace it all with a tranquil yet steady sound of my heart beat. It’s off…It’s echoed. Concentrating further I confirm it’s not just my heart, another, that’s beating in complete sync with my own. It’s different but oddly comforting, like it’s their too beat for me if my own stops. 

And then I smirk, I let out a sigh that turns into a laugh. That’s dumb of me, how can I be afraid? How could I even let fear strike me? I open my eyes to see the livid faces of Erwin and the male angles, all weapons drawn as they criticise my every move. 

I search for Armin, spotting him slowly back away. He knows, and he makes feared contact with my eyes while he shakes his head in a silent plead for me to stop. Stop now before it gets out of hand. 

But I can only smile sadly at him; I mouth a small ‘sorry’ and turn away before I can watch his face twist in pain and fear. I promised Armin long ago that I wouldn’t let myself get to that point ever again, I wouldn’t materialise my Matter like I did 5 years ago. It’s very foggy, but all I remember is waking up in the castle caked in red, blood of humans and the news of an apparent out of control massacre that consisted of over 4,500 human bodies mangled and torn apart. 

I gaze back at the angles and watch in delight at Erwin’s expression, it’s strained; he’s trying so hard to remain composed that it’s now so much easier to read him, he must have seen Armin’s reaction and is now panicking about what I plan on doing. 

So why keep him waiting? I’ll show him now exactly what I am capable off. 

I remove my hands from around my neck and let the blood gush out, all around them, covering the floor in a pool of black. Though the angels remain in place, it seems Erwin is too witty for him not to take any caution for any move I make, and steps completely out of reach from the pool of blood.

Only, that’s not my blood, I don’t have any blood running through my veins, it’s all Matter, and that’s why I’m considered a Rank 1, not just my Royal status, it’s this ‘blood’. This exact ‘blood’ is the reason I don’t die of blood loss, the reason that after a time any marks, gashes or bruises on my body can simply vanish within a matter of seconds. That’s why I healed instantly back in the dungeon, why I didn’t pass out at the pain. 

Of course. Of course, it was always a wonder to me why I can quickly fix up a bruise and according to Armin and Mikasa I have even grown Limbs back, It’s stupid of me not to notice until now, the Matter always wraps itself around my wounds and heals them, it doesn’t just protect me, it’s also my weapon. 

Spreading my wings and taking a stance I inhale deeply before exhaling sharply, and a laugh falls away from my lips, I can win, I can overpower them and get everyone out of here. We can regroup and-no, no that won’t be any fun at all.

Suddenly I can feel each and every drop of blood pulsate through me. Suddenly? No, this has been brewing for I while and now I can finally, _finally_ relieve this itch to destroy. Just kill them, quickly and quietly. Even though the desire to just pluck out eat of their fingernails, to extract their teeth one by one, too slowly pull back each of their fingers and listen for the satisfying snaps and-

Calm. If I delay this any longer then they’ll –

I cough and taste the iron blackness that Is the matter pool in with my saliva, I open my mouth quickly to release it before I cough again feeling more spurt out. 

What the hell. This actually hurts. 

“Don’t fuck around with my body like it’s an invaluable toy,” I shudder involuntarily and shift my eyes to Levi behind me, black goo – not so attractively- dribbled down from his bottom lip, which are now a dulled down pink from the rosy and warm tint they were before, his skin far more pale and not showing any evidence of peachy tones or redness. He looks deathly, in both his bitter glare upon me and his overall stature. He has both his arms wrapped around him as an attempt to hold himself together and maintain standing posture. 

“Otherwise” A wicked grin curls his lips as he utters each word carefully with each rasp. “I’ll fuck around with yours” As true to his statement he digs his nails into the palm of his left hand with enough force to bleed his knuckles into white, enough force to break the skin. And mine. 

Four, unevenly lined crescent moon’s appear in the palm of my left hand, slowly fading in along with the sharp pain that follows with it. I wince, it isn’t unbearable, but it certainly stings enough for me to nurse the nail-bitten hand against my chest, along with the inevitable shock.

He just inflicted damage to me through himself, just like I did unintentionally when I burnt his hands. And the sudden coughing, although my wounds healed from the punctured of the holy blades and spears wielded by the angels, his did not, thus the spillage of ‘blood’. 

I look around and wage my options. Four obviously well-ranking angels, three humans who seem to hold enough magical power to restrain me, and then just Armin and myself. 

Moving my head to Armin, I ask him without words but through the emotions in my eyes on any advice he may have, he wasn’t willing to let me slip into _that_ state after what happened last time, therefore it’s likely to believe that he would rather humour the homo sapiens for a while until they can bust out of there. 

The response I receive is a sign and a shake of his head, followed by a fond smile, and that’s all I need as confirmation before I cease my offensive stance and bitterly raise my hands in a sign of submission. 

_Submission_ , pah! I’d rather paper cut my eyeballs, but I trust Armin’s intuition over my own any day. He has a plan, I remind myself, and it may turn out to be catastrophic, but it’s something I was willing to bet our lives on rather than trying to charge out of here like some raging bulls. 

“Are you going to play nice?” says Erwin, mockery practically dripping from his words as a smug smile only confirms his knowledge of my momentary defeat. Oh how I would love to ruin his entire being. Maybe make his eyebrows into some knew slippers, they’re big enough. 

“Until one of you pisses me off again, yes.” I spit back. I can’t even remember why I was so damn angry in the first place, was it Erwin staring at Armin like he was delectable candy? Probably. 

He makes a hum of amusement before he waves a hand and the angels straighten their stance and hold on their weapons instantly, no longer hostile but instead moved to the side of them for presentation. “We appreciate your additional information Eren,” Erwin shifts his position and his eyes glint ever so slightly with a spark of dominance, meeting my confused look. What ‘additional information’? 

Erwin turns to the angels present before him “You heard the words yourselves ‘the other ones’. Scout Trost for any demonic life forms and bring them here immediately.” Without needing another word all four quickly exit the room to complete the command. 

No. No, no, no! I had just given them the exact answer they wanted. I confirmed that there were more of us! But, I remember seeing them bound, like I was. They were all unconscious. What’s going on? Did I just dream that up? 

I clutch at my sides and the room begins to spin. I just put my pack in danger of their lives, _again_. What if they are found and dragged here? At least I know they’re alive but at what cost? They won’t willingly come here, none of them will, they’ll fight. They’ll fight and they could lose a limb. None of them can regenerate parts of their anatomy like me; none of them can quickly heal like me either. 

What if the angels kill them?

“Hey.” I open my eyes at the soft voice, half expecting Armin but instead I find Levi, concern in his eyes. Concern…Why concern? Of all the things that could be present in his eyes, his usually unreadable façade, why has it broken and why such a caring emotion?

“They won’t kill your friends; they won’t scar them or remove any of their limbs, no permanent harm, but they’ll do what they must to get them here.” The words are so gentle, so comforting. 

“Why?” I try to step away but I only end up moving closer to him. “Why comfort me? What happened to hating my guts? Now you suddenly try and council me?” Confusion, I’m just so damn confused about everything.

“Because I’ve only realised now that you’re the kind of person who will willing put their life on the line for the sake of others, especially your friends.” Levi’s voice is sharper now, but doesn’t lack any of the kindness it held. He sighs and looks away to the side, refusing to meet my eyes. “I admire that, and I don’t highly value unnecessary deaths.”

Frowning, I analyse his face, trying to see if it’s another trap trying to squeeze any information out of me. But his static mask sets itself back onto his face, giving it his trademark impassive features. I teeter from foot to foot as the silence ebbs into awkward tension, but I then remember the presents of Armin and quickly stop him furthest away from Erwin, taking that he doesn’t want to be near the man no more than I want to be close to Levi.

Upon thinking that, Levi steps back, widening the previous gap between us once more and he strolls to move to lean against the wall, his breath stuttered and infrequent. His hands move to cup his neck and he coughs, chocking on the Matter that falls past his lips. 

He’s hurt. He’s in pain and it’s because of my stupidity, if I would have carried on and let myself get back to that state, he probably would have died. It hurts me too, but not in the same way, inside it hurts. I have caused him pain, thanks to my actions; he’s now like this…

“You look like a kicked puppy, dog.” Levi says through a quiet whisper, his voice shouldn’t be like that, it should be deep and snarky, not hushed in pain. Yet still through all of that, he smirks at me, and is still able to push out a sarcastic comment. 

Hanji files through the draw on his desk, grabbing a cloth and glass vial of liquid, it glows a faint silvery shimmer which are key features of holy water. She coats the cloth in it and pries back his hands, dabbing the purple-black boils that pimple his neck. Although he grits his teeth and hisses, Levi remains still as he’s given treatment, but it’s a treatment given in vain. 

Holy water won’t even scratch the surface of rank 3 or above Matter-caused infections. Only beholders of the Matter can remove the stains it leaves.

“That won’t work” 

All eyes turn to me, some untrusting and some shocked.

“Eren, you’re not actually…I mean he’s…Tell me you’re not.” 

I shrug and move my entire body away from Armin, the actions I am about to perform can’t be justified, especially someone like me. But, I want to help, for some reason I feel like I owe him that much for actually giving me peace in knowing my friends will be okay. I can trust his words, I can trust him, I know this subconsciously and I understand that lies are not something that rolls off of his tongue often.

Slowly, as if any twitch of the wrong muscle will leave me impaled again, I walk towards him. He’s so pale and his eyes are so readable, however in the same instance they’re not. I’ve learnt to read them. No, that isn’t right, it’s more right to place it as ‘I’ve reminded myself how to read such eyes’, but that also isn’t correct, I have never met this person before today. Maybe it’s because those eyes remind me of my mother’s? 

Again, that isn’t right, but I am willing to settle on that if it means I can have a peace of mind for a small while. 

“Let me see.” I slowly crouch down beside him, giving Hanji a look that kindly asks her to back away, without actually having to say the words. I may be doing something completely unthinkable for me, but that doesn’t mean to say I can easily forget the hatred that makes my blood boil every time I see a human. But I can momentarily forget, to help heal this human.

Hanji gives me a weary look, the hand holding the cloth moves away from his neck but her other hand instinctively hovers over her hip, were I assume a gun of some form rests. I would be cautious too, but I can see a glimmer there, a glimmer the holds the same unjustified trust I hold for the black haired man.

I nod a small thanks, raising my hand to my mouth to puncture a small hole on the skin, clenching around it and ripping the hand back. Levi’s hand, unsurprisingly, begins to bleed the same shape of wound I had just created. Hanji’s hand tenses around the gun, swiping it away from its holder and a whir of activation chimes as she points the white and gold contraption to my head, blue squares circle rapidly around the odd gun faster and faster as it boots up.

I’m not trusted, of course I’m not, and it was foolish of me to think otherwise, though I still have every intention of helping Levi. 

“Wait.” 

The brunette doesn’t move her head to Erwin’s direction but flicks her eyes over to him. “Why? He’s hurting Levi, if anything it’ll be better just to shoot him now and-“

“You’re being foolish. You’re so blind with fear that it’s fogged your reasoning. The dog has no option but to help, I have his friend captive and his other companions are being hunted down, with a single word I could kill them.” 

I freeze, I never considered it, the people-humans I mean, filthy humans, since when had I started recognising them as ‘people’? – Regardless, these _humans_ standing around me are probably of high authority, which would explain the constant callings of ‘Corporal’.

“You said you were not going to harm them!” I growl, though I have no one to blame but myself, I put faith on a black goat that was destine to bite back, but I thought past that with the vain hope that the bite would be for good karma in the end, sadly it won’t be.

“He’s right. I promised the dog I wouldn’t; you may be in command but they’re my familiars. My word is final.” 

He continues to surprise me again, why the sudden change of heart? And why must everyone insist on calling me a fucking dog. 

“Will you all kindly just stop calling me that?” I voice my displeasure for the ugly petname, it was either that or thank Levi for sticking up for me once again, and to be frank I think I would much rather devour sewerage than let something even close to words of gratitude fall on Human scum’s ears. 

“Levi started it.” 

All heads turned slowly to the owner of the comment, this oh so incredible ‘Captain America’, the blond haired, bushy eye browed wall of authoritative muscle, threw out a comment even a five-year-old would shake their head at. 

Levi started it. Levi fucking started it. 

“You arsehat, I received it from you. You always call them dogs, that’s your general name for them.” 

Breaking news, Levi is also a five-year-old.

“Your memory must be fading with age, I defiantly remember you starting off such a jolly nickname for the species.” 

“You’re two years older than me. Fuck you.”

They’re seriously having this argument. They are actually both stood here right now, Levi with several matter-infected puncture wounds decorating his neck, rasping out each bitter response and Erwin quite happily responding, throwing in even more unbelievable immature comments the longer their little banter continues. 

“But I’m a year younger than you! And I remember it being a you thing.” 

And in enters Hanji, clearly trying to stop this petty exchange between the two and not succumbing herself to the immature act of also joining in. Because that would be very irresponsible. 

“You’re all five.” Armin blankly states, his arms folded and an unimpressed frown worn on his lips. An ashamed silence settles in as Erwin and Hanji bow their heads slightly, Hanji biting her lip in an attempt to keep her giggles contained. I decide to clear my throat to shatter the quiet and gain attention. 

Levi looks up at me, his eyes murky and unfocused. I gulp, hard. 

“I…Haven’t done this on a human before, and even before that this has only ever happened two to demons, only one of which survived after, so um.” I tenderly place my bloodied hand around the wounds on Levi’s neck, jerking my hand with him as he winces at the contact.

I briefly think of warning him about the hurt he will soon be facing, but oh. The opportunity to throw his own words back in my face is too tempting, way too tempting. 

And with a smirk, I utter a smug “Grit your teeth, dog.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I was highly considering just abolishing this fic all together, mainly because I didn't think it was any good and because I felt that Geography should be my main priority and I shouldn't use up my time typing out words of fiction. 
> 
> But on Wednesday I came back here, to find a lot of really damn sweet comments, and the number of kudos?   
> 130+? Are you kidding me? 
> 
> Personally, I am unsure why It attracted this much attention, but I assure you that thanks to your kindness you have motivated me a hell of a lot. 
> 
> The plot for this has been changed, it means the story will be 10 or so chapters longer than intended, and will involve a prequel, but hopefully you'll enjoy this more than the original plot. This is still very slow paced, and I am sorry for that, but I hope you'll stick with me a little longer! Thank you all so much for your incredible support!
> 
> P.S: I just know I have typed fucking 'Angle' instead of 'Angel' somewhere in this again, I apologise for that.


End file.
